Oct 10, 2012

President Suspends All Salary Adjustments; Chairman Forms Special Committee

Regents president suspends all salary adjustments immediately pending thorough review of board; chairman forms special committee on administration to formulate policies/procedures, review adjustments.

Board of Regents President Robert A. Kennedy today suspended all salary adjustments effective immediately, and Chairman Lewis J. Robinson announced the formation of a special committee on administration which will immediately begin to gather information to formulate the policies and procedures necessary to govern the Board’s decision making process regarding compensation – including the salary adjustments –and other administrative matters. This committee will be formalized as a standing committee in November, and will use the policies and procedures ultimately adopted by the full Board to review the adjustments and report as to whether or not these adjustments were justified. Chairman Robinson expects to name the members of the special committee on administration at a special meeting of the Board of Regents Friday afternoon.

“The standing committee on administration will allow us to more thoroughly and completely formulate our policies and procedures on a number of issues – including compensation – that are currently governed by policies that were adopted by four separate boards and remain in effect today,” said Chairman Robinson. “Using those policies and procedures, I expect a full report from the Administration Committee for the Board to review and determine the appropriateness of the salary adjustments, and whether or not any will stand. Clearly how this happened was wrong, and now we need to work on fixing it.”

“I wasn’t here when similar stories were written about Connecticut’s higher education institutions, but that’s no excuse not to be more informed about the decisions I was making, and the impact they would have,” said Kennedy. “There was no intent to deceive or mislead, but I it’s clear that I could have and should have handled this differently. And in the future, I will. Right now, my focus is on beginning to repair the damage that has been done, and ensure that our organization has the proper procedures and protocol in place to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Press Availability with President Kennedy and Chairman Robinson

WHEN:
4 p.m., TODAY, October 10, 2012

WHERE:
3rd Floor Conference Room, Board of Regents Central Office; 39 Woodland Street, Hartford