New York – As a sign of deepening financial problems, Yeshiva University announced major budget cuts on December 10.
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The Jewish Daily Forward (http://bit.ly/1b2vtUe) reports the budget cuts include selling real estate and removing programs.
The cuts were first reported in the Y.U. Commentator, the school newspaper.
In an email sent to faculty December 10 university president Richard Joel apologized for the “necessary” decision.
Joel stated that he is taking a cut of his own $855,000 salary by $100,000. The university also plans to freeze senior administrators’ salaries.
Joel’s email to faculty described the cuts in broad terms, but a senior administrator discussed the budget cuts in more detail at a faculty meeting December 11. There, they announced that the school is selling 11 properties at the Washington Heights campus.
855K salary? Maybe that’s why they are in financial trouble in the first place?
Outrageous! A non-profit organization should have the chutzpah to pay for it’s president $855000 more than twice what the President of the USA is being paid!
Do they have 48 hours in a day that entitles him to get such pay? Just imagine if that would happen in the chasiddish community how all the RAT-COMMENTS WOULD EXPLODE
With such a salary cut I wonder if Joel will be able to survive.
Tofasta meruba lo tofasta.
So when are more of the world class roshei yeshiva going to join Landers ?
This is going rate for university presidents. There are numerous secular non-for-profit CEOs that earn over $1M since that is only way to attract top talent away from private sector. Welcome to corporate America.
it must be the harrasment fiasco and litigation costs are getting real.
The obscene salary blew me away. I can not imagine a sane person donating any money ever again.
Perhaps their benefactors are the same class and they will see nothing wrong.
“Joel stated that he is taking a cut of his own $855,000 salary by $100,000. The university also plans to freeze senior administrators’ salaries.”
Poor guy, how is he going to survive on $ 62.000 a month?
NOBODY is worth that kind of salary. And considering how much YU lost thanks to Bernie Madoff, it’s even more disgusting for Mr. Joel (he’s not BILLY for heaven’s sake!) to take that kind of money. Go down to $150,000 & learn to tighten your belt. It will still be a nice amount to live on.
I can see ceo’s of major corporations making that kind of salary – they can always go to another corporation that would be willing to pay them as much.
But Y.U. ?? If Joel would want to go somewhere else, are there so many modern orthodox yeshivas out there willing to pay that outrageous salary? Would he go to Reform / Reconstruction/ Jews for Jesus/ etc. type groups, who may be able to pay?
What a travesty !
The article in The Forward repeats the claim that YU “lost $100 million in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme”.
That 100 million is based on the completely fake figure Madoff printed out in the monthly statement. The real loss was whatever they invested, less the amount the trustees and insurance returned to them.
While I haven’t seen their official figure, the actual number they lost was far less.
Rabbi Norman Lamn, shlit”a, in his true genius, established and built the YU endowement fund. It present has 1.1 Billion dollars (capital B). Beacuse of the Bernie Madoff loss, supposedly $100 million, together with diminished income, budget cuts are necessary so as not to deplete the endowement fund. The sale of real estate is probably because there is no need for those particular buildings or because the buildings are operating (non-YU functions) at a loss. YU continues to flourish and is far from pitiful, Baruch haShem.