At one of the open forums at Radford University held in the spring, one of the biggest laughs came when RU President Penelope Kyle explained to the crowd that even she has had to cut back fiscally in this economy. The laughs weren’t the intended response, and the laughs weren’t funny ha-ha, they were funny “Are you freakin’ serious?”
We’ve heard a lot in the news recently—and really for several months—about executive compensation. We’ve all heard the stories of massive salaries and bonuses for CEOs who were driving their businesses into bankruptcy. While the pay rate in academe doesn’t quite reach the vulgar levels of corporate America, we have to scratch our heads at the timing and substance of the new contract and compensation package just given to RU President Penny Kyle.
For the purposes of this column, we will avoid the debate of whether or not Kyle’s performance has warranted pay raises and million-dollar annuities. The New River Voice is working on an article that will offer reactions from the University community about Kyle’s new contract, so we’ll let those people speak for themselves.
What is interesting, though, is that in the open forums of the spring, the administration painted a bleak picture of RU finances: admission to RU is down for the next school year, many classes that were offered last fall won’t be offered this fall because adjunct instructor budgets have been so severely cut that no one is left to teach essential classes, departments have been combined, many classified employees remain at a pay level far below market value, and yet the RU Board of Visitors (BOV) thinks this is a good time to give the president a big raise and bonus?
As we said back in April, the RU Board of Visitors just doesn’t get it, and its irresponsible actions epitomize the same fiscal callousness and carelessness that we’ve seen in corporate America. It seems RU’s BOV has chosen a model of fiscal responsibility from the likes of General Motors, AIG, or Lehman Brothers.
Kyle’s new five-year contract is retroactive to July 1, 2008, and runs through June 30, 2013. In addition to her state salary and benefits, the contract awards Kyle deferred compensation of a minimum of $200,000 a year. Overall, the new contract pays Kyle at least $508,299 annually, including deferred payments and a car allowance. Kyle also gets the use of a house and is reimbursed a limited amount for expenses such as tax and financial planning services. Kyle’s previous salary was $359,256.
The deferred compensation will be funded by the Radford University Foundation, a private source of funding. Four members of the Foundation board opposed Kyle’s “stay bonus,” as they called it as the bonus is only received if Kyle stays at RU. Those four Foundation members—Flo Graham, Kirk Knott, Fred Newhouse, and Greg Rooker—offered a letter to Kyle saying why they objected to the bonus coming from the Foundation.
“The uncertainty of local, state, and national economic forecasts gives us pause, and reason to question, whether the Foundation has, or can generate, the financial resources to conclude this contract as well as the President’s salary supplement and increased deferred compensation,” the letter reads.
“We object strenuously to the manner in which the ’stay bonus’ was handled, additionally, we are concerned that the Foundation Board of Directors vote to fund the $1 million ’stay bonus’ may be a breach of our fiduciary responsibilities and place us in legal jeopardy,” the four Foundation board dissenters wrote. If only the rest of the Foundation board and the RU BOV had as much common sense.
Tim W. Jackson is Editor of the New River Voice.
22 responses so far ↓
1 Roudy Red // Jun 14, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Let’s talk about the performance of Ms. Kyle and her band of “administrators. First, recall that her coming was to be such a fiscal windfall of funding for RU by her purportedly fantastic “Richmond Connections”. WHAT A JOKE!! Her performance so much heralded by RJ Kirk and the Board of Visitors has actually been actually second rate when for just one instance the proportion of funding compared to the other state schools is considered. Read on. The retoric continues, but the facts are pretty revealing.
I went into the State’s records to see what at least one comparison to the other four-year VA public schools might show. Remember a couple of years ago when everyone was told how wonderful she was for attracting the $70.9 million of the State Bond referendum funds? Looking deeper, this level of funding turns out to be quite an ordinary, maybe even mediocre, no actually a poor achievement–10th out of 14 four-year schools pleading for their share of the $1.65 billion available. JMU, VA State, Norfolk State, JMU, GMU, CNP, and, naturally, the big three all did better. Back in 2002, when the Virginia state budget was in the Gilmore toilet, salaries were frozen, things were in bad shape–the total pot in the General bond referendum was $833 million. At that time, RU’s portion ($27.4 million) ranked six out of 14. A better performance in ranking than Kyle’s 10 out of 14. Bottom line? The progress during her administration in accessing the State purse is clearly nothing for president Kyle to brag about and take cheap shots at Doug Covington and all that has gone before her. Her performance is basically no progress, maybe even decline over that of 2002. So, what IS the basis for awarding her below average, no poor performance with all this bonus and annuity money that RU can’t afford? Maybe, if she actually did her job instead of worrying about the color of T-shirts sold in the bookstore or in preventing students from taking hot food from the cafeteria, even though they pay for it…Radford could do better per State coffers.
Your Pal,
Roudy
2 Roudy Red // Jun 14, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Kyle’s ambitious 7-17 plans, which probably have little to do with RU’s regional university-mission in SW VA, may not be very realistic given the anything but stunning success (actually stunning failure) she has achieved so far?
The trail of missteps, ill-advised decisions, and outright incompetence of RU’s leadership–president, provost, some deans, and Board of Visitors–is the most fertile, the most rich of loams for stories you could pursue:
1. Firing a provost after six months–an academic black eye, nationally, for RU. Mark my word, if the heat gets uncomfortable, she’ll fire Stanton and/or others. How do I know? She’s already done this before–numerous times.
3. Moving the homecoming from the beautiful Autumn to the dark of winter for a b-ball game with Liberty–idiotic.
4. Ignoring or trying to kill the Highlander Festival–the single biggest draw annually in the Radford community–idiotic!
5. Wanting to sell the Selu Conservancy, a much coveted RU jewel, and finding out after her husband’s law firm (using RU funds) discovered she couldn’t. How frustrating for the poor woman. Another ill-advised decison stymied.
6. Trying to change the mascot from the Highlander, a culturally reasonable icon of this region, to dread the red–whatever the red is? I know about Roudy Red.
7. Alleged re-directing RU Foundation funds to newly created foundations without consulting donors?
8. Why, as they increase everywhere else, have enrollments and retention rates over the past two years declined at RU?
9. Closing the Dedmon Center facilities to everyone but athletes all the while financing renovation of said facity with RU student fees.
10. The budget forum fiasco where she failed to answer questions fro students and made a mockery of her own economic situation compared to RU staff. When asked why she wasn’t anwering all the questions, Kyle capped off her performance with the immortal words for Radford University history–”I get to choose the questions!”
11. Ms. Kyle’s unconscionable acceptance of unearned bonuses and raises in times when student in Appalachia need all the support they can get. But Ms. Kyle’s attitude is probably like her response when she was questioned about removing the word “Appalachian” from the Appalachian Colections of the RU Library–Ms. Kyle, a Galax girl, said, “Appalachia doesn’t play well in Richmond.” I wonder if it’s just at the tea parties with Mrs. Kane that Appalachia doesn’t play well.
12. Trying to change the core curriculum without consulting the RU faculty, and recently through her Provost, erecting a sort of kangaroo court to perform an illegal “expedited review” of academic programs is another addition to her growing legacy of academic incompetence. BTW,take heart; the RU faculty has risen in protest and has begun to re-take their sacred ground from the Provost, past Head Rector, and president–this is the cool story chronicled in recent months by local newspapers and continues with an investigation of wrong-doing by the RU Faculty Senate and the RU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
n. the list goes on…
Finally, Ms. Kyle often tries to blame others or deflect unwanted attention to others by saying–”oh, I don’t do that… HELLO Ms Kyle, you are the president of Radford University. You are rsponsible for it all!!
3 Roudy Red // Jun 14, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Someone might want to know how many adjunct faculty could be supported by the raise Ms. Kyle has been granted. The Slaves are paid $2,700 for a semester-long course with NO BENEFITS. Ya’ll can do the math. Divde the nominally $250,000 by $2,700–93 courses. Adjunct faculty are being cut at Radford University.
Wouldn’t you as a hard-working taxpayer struggling to put your child through school love to have some help. How about an opportunity for your child to compete for say one of one hundred potential $2,500 scholarships that could accrue from that raise?
Had enough?! Tell somebody! Write the Governor, write the State board of education. Write Ms. Kyle and shame her like an AIG big wig!! It would, if nothing else, be interesting to know if she has any shame; to learn if she will mirror her big-business cronies and refuse this outrage perpetrated on on all of us by her and the Radford University Board of Visitors.
Roudy Red
4 Glen T. Martin // Jun 15, 2009 at 4:42 am
The level of power and wealth on which the President, the Provost, and many members of the Board of Visitors operate, and the system and culture it represents, tends to destroy their common sense, their humanity, and their ability to use basic moral reasoning. R.J. Kirk shows up to a Board of Visitors meeting in a turkey hunting outfit representing his response to outcry of faculty and staff to the destruction on internal governance at RU.
On one level I feel sorry for President Kyle. From my personal interactions with her I believe she is a decent human being who somewhere inside wants to do the right thing. But the wealth and power culture offers too much of a temptation. Like Faust, most of these people have sold their souls to the devil. They operate in a vacuous world of public perception, empty rhetoric, dishonesty, strategic manipulation, and greed. And the consequences for the rest of us, and for the corruption of Radford University, are unspeakable.
5 Megan Flora // Jun 15, 2009 at 8:57 am
I have submitted the following letter to the editor to the Roanoke Times:
In response to the article “Bonuses in Radford president Penelope Kyle’s contract: $1 million,” I would like to start out expressing my extreme disapproval of giving President Kyle the raise and bonus described in this article. When I began my career as a Radford University student in the Fall of 2003, I was very excited to be a part of such a great institution. After graduating in 2007 with my Bachelor of Science degree, I was given a job opportunity in Blacksburg following an internship my senior year. Despite what everyone told me before I went to Radford University, I was always proud to say that is where I got my degree. I am afraid that the university’s decision to give the current president this kind of raise and bonus is not only outrageous but is a disgrace to what the institution stands for. The financial state of this country alone is an example of why Mrs. Kyle should NOT be getting this kind of additional payment. Having stayed in the local area, I do keep an eye on the happenings at the University and I distinctly remember a news broadcast where Mrs. Kyle stood in front of the camera and announced that the budget cuts passed down from legislation would cause cuts, but that she did not know what would be affected at that time.
Both my mother and father-in-law work for the University, along with many other faculty members I have remained in touch with over the past two years. I would like to bring attention to several things that disturb me about her bonus and raise. First and foremost, the faculty and staff at Radford University were denied their raises this year. If the university can’t give its professors (the people who keep the students of the university thriving and coming back year after year) their raises, or even a percentage of their raises, how can it afford to pay the president more? Second, there have been multiple departments at Radford which have fallen under the knife of President Kyle and are either been cut or are under review. The Anthropology department for instance, has been eliminated. I was one of many students fortunate enough to have Dr. Donna Boyd as my professor and cannot express how sad I am to hear the university is getting rid of the department for which she works. I have yet to understand how it makes sense to cut a department with a professor that was nominated and won the award for Professor of the Year, a national and prestigious award. Some of the other departments affected by President Kyle’s cuts include Chemistry, Physics, Geology, and Math (as well as several more). As a scientist, I am very angry at the thought of doing away with these majors. I understand that the number of students that graduate from these departments is insignificant compared to other departments (i.e. Pyschology, Education, and Criminal Justice) but the impression I get from the university is that it is far more important that President Kyle get an approximate raise of $150,000, a million dollar bonus, a car allowance and a house than it is to provide a wide range of students with an education in the sciences.
I am sad to see that this is how my tax dollars are being spent. I have always been told that working for state or federal government is called public service. For Mrs. Kyle, it seems more about making the public serve her both now and after her “service” at RU. As long as she serves as president, I can guarantee that I will make no contribution to the university because I refuse to fund executive bonuses.
Megan Flora
Radford, VA
6 Bill from Roanoke // Jun 15, 2009 at 11:45 am
Dear Ladies and Gentleman: I thank you for your comments. I have been actively engaged in the “Radford Story” since first reading the R/Times articles last September about Robert Blakes resignation, Gordon King’s resignation as the Chair of the Radford Foundation two months after stating that Radford really couldn’t afford to fund Kyle’s 145k annuity increase, but said it would take an 8 million dollar endowment to cover it; and finally I was touched by the Resolution by the Retired Association of Radford Employees (RARE) who sent a letter to R.J. Kirk opposing any annuity increase for Kyle.
I immediately began an extensive campaign via email, mailings to BOV Board and Foundation Board, and door-to-door petitioning to bring it to the attention of the citizen taxpayer and donor. I’m asking people to contact State Sen. John S. Edwards, PO Box 1179, Roanoke, Va 24006-1179 in support of a BILL to place CAPPS on College Executive Pay and Annuities Derived From Donated Funds, otherwise the sky is the limit! After reading Kyle’s contract it should be noted that the BOV at their discretion pay up to 1/3 of her 290k salary annually in addition to the 200k “Stay Bonus” she is to receive annually. In the Foundation’s letter of 5/13/09 to Kyle requesting that she return the contract they stated it would cost the foundation 475k annually to fund her compensation - the state picks up the difference of 123K more or less. I wonder now, if they even considered the 100k that she may receive by actions of the BOV each year? If I’m calculating this properly…it appears to me that her total pay package including the state portion could well exceed 700k annually if the BOV has there way. I’m petitioning the public this week for the BOV resignation and Kyle’s…which will be mailed to Edwards.
7 Alicia // Jun 15, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I would like to make it known that the Roanoke Times and WDBJ7 have both removed all comments which were posted on their news coverage of Kyle’s newly approved contract. They have also disabled the option for individuals to leave comments from these news stories. I personally provided links to the video coverage of the original RU Budget forum on WDBJ7’s news story. The next morning, when I checked for additional responses, all comments had been removed. I encourage everyone to contact both WDBJ7 and the Roanoke Times, with your inquiries. This is blantantly biased censorship, which speaks highly to terrifying political power of Kyle.
8 ?everything // Jun 16, 2009 at 7:11 am
Does anyone else think it’s odd that just before Gov. Kaine announced state budget cuts, Provost Stanton got a $49,000 raise….and now just a few days after Penny Kyle got her big raise, Gov. Kaine has announced “substantial cuts”? Seems like the RU administration is making sure they get their cut before they start cutting the rest of us……………
9 The Man Who Snarls // Jun 16, 2009 at 7:19 am
If only life were like pro wrestling… Then this would have a simple solution.
No dice on that. A shame, really. Most politicians and administrators could benefit from a solid chair shot every now and again.
10 Frank // Jun 16, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I noticed too that the blog/comment areas were stripped away from the ABC and Roanoke paper sites. Interesting observation. Whomever had it removed has a broad reach and friends in high places. The analysis regarding what has been “accomplished” is spot on. Context is everything. RU received the same proportion of resources as everyone else in good times. RU leadership I am sure takes credit for the sun rising and shoots the messenger that tells them that it is dusk. The BOT is obviously a “bottom-line” board that is more interested in what happens than how it happens. The problem is that the majority would have happened regardless. The means is the true story that the BOT will never grasp for they have not been subject to the demeaning paralyzing effect of the RU administration. Vindictive, ego-driven and micro-managing are chinks in the administration’s armor that are not seen by those that count. Unfortunately, like a spoiled child, these signs will never be seen because they don’t want to see them. Doing so would mean the ability to admit a mistake. Those in charge would say that those that have left in the form of countless administrators and board members are but rats jumping ship; those that have left would say they are prideful survivors jumping to saftey, if not, sanity and preservation of their principles. In Kyle’s time she has to a great extent remade the varied boards with people of her choosing. In essence, handpicking her “bosses/supervisors”. It is this same group that has been pushing for her $1 million, while she has remained silent on the topic. In doing so, she can say, I didn’t ask for it. Most will assume otherwise. Heck if I could get someone to give me $1 million to remain a teacher I would take it. In today’s market are we really that worried about keeping a university president? Are there not other qualified people out there that would jump at the chance, are qualified and actually be a leader that is embraced? If you were to ask the RU president, I am sure she would note that she is a capable leader. However, in order to be a good leader, you must have people that want to follow. In this unfortunate case, the only followers she has are those she reports to.
11 mdr // Jun 17, 2009 at 9:56 pm
One of the Roanoke Times pieces says that she managed to steer the University through this budget crisis without any layoffs. This is spin for you. Most departments have lost all adjunct funds, many of the folks who taught classes on a semester to semester basis and made a whopping $20800 a year (if they were lucky enough to get a 4-4 load) with no benefits are now jobless in an already tough economic climate. Technically, they were not laid off b/c they had no guarantee of employment in the first place. But they are not the only ones; administrative positions have simply disappeared. Again, not a lay off, because these people can rest assured that they will never be asked back. How many of those people’s jobs could have been saved with these funds?
12 mdr // Jun 17, 2009 at 9:58 pm
oops, adjuncts teaching 4-4 make 21600 not 20800 - they got a $100 per class raise a few years ago, the first in about a decade.
13 ?everything // Jun 19, 2009 at 8:11 am
It was announced this morning, that as of today, the Univerisity Registrar position has been cut due to lack of funding. We can afford a million dollar president, but can’t afford a registrar?
14 Bill from Roanoke // Jun 20, 2009 at 10:30 am
Maybe we should all write the IRS and ask how we could defer one-half of our annual income and pay taxes on it later! We also want to know how the Board of Visitors can give up to 1/3 of Kyle’s salary (100k) as a bonus each year if the the Acts of the Assembly limited her to a 4% bonus in 2007 on her state salary, and a 5% bonus on her annuity. By what authority does the BOV have to exceed the Acts of the Assembly. Do you realize as I stated last week, adding all these raises and bonuses she’ll be making as much as the Tech and UVA President who have student bodies twice that of Radfords. The BOV, the old and new members, were very much aware of the what they were doing…even to the point of choreographing the notice 15 months after first announcing it in April of 2008, carefully not mentioning the amount. Believe me, citizens of this commonwealth have every right to ask for both Kyle’s and the entire Board’s resignations. We can all thank those brave souls on the Foundation Board for giving a dissenting vote and writing a letter citing their reasons. These are the real men and women we need to give oversight to the donor’s money. Hopefully, I’ll have the complete package ready for delivery next week! They need to step down! Go for it Roudy RED.
15 Plaid Warrior // Jun 22, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I am no friend to Penny Kyle (I refuse to call her president anymore), but I need to correct a couple of things listed in the comments above.
Penny never tried to change the mascot from the Highlanders. That was a rumor that the Tartan picked up on, and then completely misunderstood. There was a PR discussion about resurrecting Rowdy Red (the old mascot) for an anniversary deal to coincide with selected athletics anniversaries. The Tartan got wind of that and thought a nickname change was in the works and wrote an editorial about it (without speaking to the athletic department).
What she DID do is change the official university colors. RU’s true colors are Red, Blue and Green. White has drifted in an out as an official color. She axed green, uses blue VERY sparingly. A logo change was made combining the University logo that was design in the early 90s with the athletic logo design in the late 90s to make one of the most hideous logos I’ve ever seen. There was also discussion of a change to the official seal, to remove the beehive.
Also, Alicia, unfortunately WDBJ and The Roanoke Times deciding to strip the comments off of their websites is NOT censorship. We as citizens of the United States are not guaranteed the write to comment on privately owned message boards. However, you have every right to boycott both media institutions for grave unethical behaviors (i.e. firing a good reporter at RU’s request because he wrote negative stories about RU).
That being said, I’m glad the masses are finally beginning to rise up. Morale among employees is at an all-time low and it’s time to reclaim RU.
16 Plaid Warrior // Jun 22, 2009 at 2:44 pm
ok…please ignore my misuse of write in the thrid paragraph above. I was so busy thinking about writing I got write wrong. I do know that right is the correct term there.
17 Tim C. // Jul 7, 2009 at 5:06 pm
You can’t make this stuff up can you? Unbelievable but so representative of the patter of this administration. Twist the numbers to make Kyle fit and enhance the perception of perceived success to justify the unbelievable pay. I am a graduate of RU, love RU, but don’t feel that they are in the same peer group as VT or UV! Do the people that make these decisions not comprehend context, the times we are in and/or the perception of this. I can’t believe an educated group can be so obtuse and disconnected from reality. They too must be suffering along with our PK in “not living like I used to.” Apparently they believed her statement to this effect, felt for her predictament, and increased her pay accordingly. We’ve been quick to jump on PK and deservedly so, but our attention should turn to the enablers as well. It is easy to blame the spoiled child, but the parents are normally a big cause and I believe so in this case. The key question for the BOV is who does RU compare themselves for academic matters? That is our peer group, not some BS administrative process driven function. By their current logic if RU had 1,000 students instead of 10,000 students this rate of pay would still be justified due to the autonomy of the business function. Ridiculous!
18 A Student // Jul 12, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I would just like to point out that, she is running a public university without any degree whatsoever in education.
19 Plaid Warrior // Jul 13, 2009 at 8:09 am
Better yet, the person she has entrusted to do most of her dirty work, and basically run the university in her absence, Jo Kiernan, has no degree whatsoever period.
20 ?Everything // Jul 13, 2009 at 11:32 am
And rumor has it that her newly appointed Cheif Financial Officer has been FIRED from two previous jobs (including Virginia Tech) and has NO financial experiance!
21 Two Longtime RU Employees Terminated // Sep 14, 2009 at 7:01 pm
[…] voiced displeasure that Kyle accepted a hefty bonus and raise just a few months ago and is now eliminating departments and personnel in the name of budget cuts. […]
22 RU Faculty: Satisfaction NOT Guaranteed // Oct 8, 2009 at 11:04 pm
[…] survey was taken prior to Kyle being awarded a raise and bonus over the summer and before the events of this semester with the Office of New Student […]
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