Two years into the job, Oregon State University’s Board of Trustees voted Friday to give President Jayathi Murthy a 4% raise.
That follows a 6% raise trustees gave Murthy in January, and brings her total compensation, effective November, to over $777,000. That includes a base salary of over $466,000, a salary supplement from the OSU Foundation of over $250,000, as well as a supplemental retirement contribution of over $60,000.
Stability
At the Friday, Oct. 25 meeting, the first of the academic year, Trustee Julia Brim-Edwards said the move was critical to having stable, effective leadership at the university.
“Oftentimes, to get that stable effective leadership, it’s important to have fair and competitive compensation packages,” she said.
According to the board report on Murthy’s assessment as president during the last fiscal year, and her proposed pay adjustment, a review of presidential compensation for OSU’s comparable peer institutions found total compensation packages ranging from $353,000 to $1.4 million.
That assessment report from board Chair Román Hernández noted positive trustee feedback for Murthy’s work to rebuild the Pac-12 Conference and her work on a new strategic plan, among other areas.
Oregon State University is the largest public university in Oregon and enrolled more than 36,000 students last year across its multiple in-person campuses and online programs. The second largest university, the University of Oregon, had about 24,000 students last fall. University of Oregon trustees hired president John Karl Scholz last year with a contract that promised him $747,000 base salary for the 2024 school year, plus an additional $150,000 annual retirement contribution.
Frustrations
The motion to approve the raise, however, followed more than an hour of public comment at the start of the meeting, which included many graduate students voicing frustration over their compensation amid contract negotiations that began last year.
Members are currently voting on whether to authorize a strike.
The Coalition of Graduate Employees declared an impasse in negotiations last month, and both parties have submitted their “last, best and final offers” with the state’s Employment Relations Board.
They remain far apart on compensation, with the union seeking a 50% increase in the minimum salary rate, while OSU is proposing an 8% increase.
During the public comment, physics graduate student Noah Vaughn said members were on the verge of heading toward a strike and called on trustees to pressure administrators to make changes to current proposals.
Danielle Whalen, another graduate student, said the university’s salary proposals didn’t come close to helping students struggling to afford rent, and asked trustees, as they considered Murthy’s raise, to consider their situation, faulting Murthy’s leadership.
Other graduate students spoke about financial hardships like Erika Stewart, who shared an account of a fellow student, who she said works multiple jobs, on top of their various graduate teaching duties — including leading their own courses and grading — and who struggles to afford rent.
Andreas Guerrero, another graduate student, also brought up cost-of-living challenges and called on trustees to advise the university’s negotiating team to engage in good faith talks with the union.
Other concerns
There were other issues brought before the board during public. Some students and community members voiced frustration, once again, about the College of Forestry’s management of the McDonald Dunn Research Forest, specifically relating to Woodpecker Harvest over the summer near a popular hiking trail and their concerns for old-growth trees.
Some students also spoke about a student fee increase proposal they wanted to see go before the board that would raise the wages of student employees, while others reiterated divestment calls made by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
At the end of the meeting, the board entered into a closed-door session. The agenda cited the state provision that allows executive sessions to be conducted for deliberations with persons designated by the governing body to carry on labor negotiations.