Holbrook gets $250k bonus for her efforts

[Bobcat94]

Trustees at Ohio State give former president big bonus

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Former Ohio State University president Karen Holbrook received a $250,000 bonus when she left last month, more than twice the amount outlined in her contract, a trustee at the school said.

Holbrook, the university's first female president who resigned after five years, did an outstanding job improving the school's graduation rate and had many other accomplishments, said C. Gilbert Cloyd, chairman of the Board of Trustees at Ohio State.

The News Journal - www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com - Mansfield, OH

Let's see -- a person gets paid (well) to do a job, then resigns, then the employer pays 20 or 30% more to get the replacement to do the same job, then the employer turns around and voluntarily gives the quitter a quarter mil for doing a great job. All of this is with public funds and all the while whining that they need more subsidy money from the state since tuition is frozen.

Any thoughts?

 

[tibor75]

Well what do you think about what Gee did?

Pretends to be interested in the University of California job, forcing OSU to cough up a ton to keep him.

Then leaves anyway a few years later to go to Brown.

Then OSU begs him to come back.

Pathetic.

Holbrook did an excellent job. Improved academics and did it without hurting the sports.

Not sure why anybody can find fault with the job she did. Then again, OSU drunks never do think rationally.

 

[fourteenandoh]

Well what do you think about what Gee did?

Pretends to be interested in the University of California job, forcing OSU to cough up a ton to keep him.

Then leaves anyway a few years later to go to Brown.

Then OSU begs him to come back.

Pathetic.

Holbrook did an excellent job. Improved academics and did it without hurting the sports.

Not sure why anybody can find fault with the job she did. Then again, OSU drunks never do think rationally.

minus the part about "OSU drunks" i couldn't agree more(i am one, afterall). i don't think any alumni are upset with the job Karen did. its the non-alumni that really don't like her (from my personal experience)
pay her the money

 

[sandgk]

Well what do you think about what Gee did?

Pretends to be interested in the University of California job, forcing OSU to cough up a ton to keep him.

Then leaves anyway a few years later to go to Brown.

Then OSU begs him to come back.

I call it good negotiating and use of leverage.

Pathetic.

On tOSU's part, maybe, though they did get the man they wanted - again.
Pathetic might have been settling for an unproven candidate to fill the position - getting a proven rainmaker like Gee was the right move.

Holbrook did an excellent job. Improved academics and did it without hurting the sports.

Not sure why anybody can find fault with the job she did. Then again, OSU drunks never do think rationally.

I look at the $250K as a parting bonus - given the improvement in endowment and research funding alone, she earned it. Here is hoping GG can do what he plans - better than doubling the endowment. If he succeeds then on Gee's departure I wouldn't wince at $1MM bonus for the man of a a thousand bow-ties. Hor, like Holbrook he would have earned it.

 

[Buckeyedynasty]

I say give her the 250k......as long as it gets her out of town faster! :tongue2:

 

[scooter1369]

I say give her the 250k......as long as it gets her out of town faster! :tongue2:

yup.

Everything I've heard is that she sacrificed the undergrad program to enhance the research side of things, making more headlines but diminishing the school as a whole on the national level.

I'm not saying that is entirely the case, as this info simply came from parents and students at the games.

 

[AKAK]

I look at the $250K as a parting bonus - given the improvement in endowment and research funding alone, she earned it. Here is hoping GG can do what he plans - better than doubling the endowment. If he succeeds then on Gee's departure I wouldn't wince at $1MM bonus for the man of a a thousand bow-ties. Hor, like Holbrook he would have earned it.

Yeah... and in a lot of ways, I sort of look at KH as more or less fulfilling Gee's vision from his first tenure...

I think the only criticism I would have is that I feel like the gains in reputation in research, etc were done at some expense to the undergraduate population, etc... however, the increase of admission standards, etc, I think have to some degree helped make the value of the eductaion commensurate with those increases... and.. its always been a good value.

At any rate... it was probably time to bring back a more visionary leader... that it happens to be the same guy as before... eh whatever.

I will say that early in her term, Holbrook scared me quite a bit...but... I tend to think she did a nice job overall...

Now... the assclown between them? Hmmm... that's quite another story.

 

[CleveBucks]

Well what do you think about what Gee did?

Pretends to be interested in the University of California job, forcing OSU to cough up a ton to keep him.

He WAS interested in the Cal job... until he found out they wouldnt let him serve on any corporate boards.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

yup.

Everything I've heard is that she sacrificed the undergrad program to enhance the research side of things, making more headlines but diminishing the school as a whole on the national level.

Then, why have we made considerable advances in every catagory and ranking under her tenure including undergraduate rankings and admissions selectivity. Last year, we had a 25% increase in overall applications and a 50% increase from students with 32+ ACT scores. We reached a point under Holbrook where we're turning down nearly one out of every two applicants (48% rejection rate for the '07 freshman class). Something good must be going on at the undergraduate level because the top high school students are flocking to Ohio State in record numbers, we've left Miami in the dust on admissions and our national reputation hasn't been this good since the 1950s. While Holbrook (along with Kirwan and Gee) all were building on the real hard work that Ed Jennings did in the 1980s of undoing the Jim Rhodes' madness, she has done an admirable job in continuing their progress. If you want to see what an honestly bad university president is look down to Athens and that clown McDavis who bounces from one scandal to another all the while dropping 12 spots in the last two USN&WR rankings and pulling in freshman classes that have more students from the bottom half of their high school class than from the top tenth.

As for the whole research angle. Ohio State is a research university. It always has been. It was founded by Rutherford B. Hayes and the state's post-Civil War political and business leadership to be the state's comprehensive flagship university. In 1906, the state legally mandated (through the Eagleson Bill) that only Ohio State among public universities could offer doctoral education or conduct basic research. The law stood until the 1950s. In 1916, Ohio State was elected into America's premier organization of public and private research universities--the AAU. In 1938, the Ohio State Research Foundation was created to bring in outside funding for faculty research projects. Holbrook did not suddenly turn Ohio State into a research university. If somebody doesn't want to attend a "research university" they shouldn't apply to Ohio State nor should they expect Ohio State to change its mission to accomodate them. Let's also not lose sight of the fact that the 650 million dollars in external research funding that Ohio State received in 2006 translates, using the federal government's standard multipliers, into 24,000 jobs and 9 billion dollars in total economic impact, which for a state watching the erosion of its manufacturing base and suffering from a significant brain drain, should be cause to build Holbrook a statue at the statehouse.

 

[Bobcat94]

OK. So far about half the votes in the poll are in favor of a monetary bonus and about half aren't. There have been some well thought out points made in Holbrook's favor.

The question that remains unanswered in my mind is if such a sizeable bonus is appropriate from a publicly-funded organization. Particularly since the university was not contractually obligated to award that high an amount.

According to the article, her contract called for bonuses up to $95k. tOSU volunteered an extra $155k of public funds because she did so much for the institution. This is the part I question.

I am not opposed to top officials in a university (AD, HC, prez, dept. heads, etc.) getting contracts with bonuses included that are tied to performance, especially when that performance is helping to fund the institution. However, I think the public should look deeper into circumstances when the board of trustees volunteers an extra $155k to someone who is no longer an employee as their way of saying 'Thanks.'

 

[tibor75]

OK. So far about half the votes in the poll are in favor of a monetary bonus and about half aren't. There have been some well thought out points made in Holbrook's favor.

The question that remains unanswered in my mind is if such a sizeable bonus is appropriate from a publicly-funded organization. Particularly since the university was not contractually obligated to award that high an amount.

According to the article, her contract called for bonuses up to $95k. tOSU volunteered an extra $155k of public funds because she did so much for the institution. This is the part I question.

I am not opposed to top officials in a university (AD, HC, prez, dept. heads, etc.) getting contracts with bonuses included that are tied to performance, especially when that performance is helping to fund the institution. However, I think the public should look deeper into circumstances when the board of trustees volunteers an extra $155k to someone who is no longer an employee as their way of saying 'Thanks.'

If you want people to be interested in a job position, you treat previous job holders well. Don't think future applicants for the Presidency job won't look back at the good treatment Holbrook has received.

 

[coastalbuck]

I'm with Bobcat here. Pay her what her contract called for, maybe even a little 10k parting kiss, but not the amount she received. I'm not sure the board should be allowed to reward anyone outside of contractual agreements, in fact, I don't think they should have the ability to do so.

 

[endzoneBucki]

That's not so much . I think it is time for a change so Give it to her.

 

[AKAK]

Question... What's Holbrook doing now? I mean once the transition is complete, what are her plans?

 

[scooter1369]

Question... What's Holbrook doing now? I mean once the transition is complete, what are her plans?

I heard one story say President at UF. Good luck Gainesville....

I also heard she going to retire for good.