Politics & Government
Higher Ed Officials Schedule Meeting to Discuss Controversial University of Iowa Salary Deal
University officials say then-Regent Michael Gartner agreed to the deal with UI President Sally Mason's husband, but Gartner says he doesn't remember it.
A 5-year-old salary deal is getting so much recent attention that University of Iowa officials plan to meet today to discuss it.
Over the weekend the Des Moines Register broke a story about UI President Sally Mason's special salary deal. In addition to his salary as a science instructor, Ken Mason reportedly receives more than $50,000 to attend university fundraising events. The position is funded by the University of Iowa Foundation
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What's more, it's unclear at the moment who signed off on the deal.
The university says Ken Mason’s 2007 appointment as both a “presidential fundraiser” and a lecturer in the biology department — giving him a total compensation of more than $107,000 a year — was agreed to by former Board of Regents President Michael Gartner when he negotiated the deal to hire Sally Mason away from Purdue University.
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But Gartner says he has no recollection of such an agreement and said the Regents don’t offer faculty appointments since that is a function of the universities themselves.
UI Foundation Spokesman Forrest Meyer told the Daily Iowan that university officials would meet Monday to discuss Mason's special salary.