Observer

Issue date: 9/26/06 Section: Page One

For complete list of all R-N employee earnings for 2005, please pick up one of our print issues anywhere on campus!

Even after a summer where the university faculty was reduced by layoffs and given additional work with combined course sections, one Rutgers-Newark professor, a former campus provost, has faired better than most during this difficult period.

University Professor Norman Samuels, who lectures two classes this semester, is pulling down a yearly salary of over $260,000 - making him one of the highest paid faculty members in the entire university and the highest paid employee on the R-N campus, according to the salary information obtained by the Observer.

Salary information obtained by the Observer through an Open Public Records Act request shows that Samuels made $264,075 in 2005.

Samuels' generous salary was higher than that of campus' top executive official, Provost Steven J. Diner, who earned $254,386.

For his quarter-million-dollar paycheck, Samuels - for whom the plaza between the John Cotton Dana Library and the Paul Robeson Campus Center was named - lectures an introductory undergraduate course in political science and conducts a graduate seminar class on modern political terrorism.

While the salary is sure to raise eyebrows among students and faculty feeling the brunt of increased tuition and budget cutbacks, Samuels is unabashed.

"I make no apology for what I make," Samuels recently told the Observer. "It was something I had to do to take care of myself."

According to Samuels, his salary was a result of negotiations with the university after he stepped down in 2002 as provost of the R-N campus and was asked to serve as interim president of Rutgers after President Frances Lawrence resigned and rejoined the faculty.

When Richard McCormick was appointed president that year, Samuels was asked to serve as executive vice president to help the new president acclimate himself to his new role.

But Samuels, who stepped down as provost after 30 stellar years in administration so that he could return to the faculty, was reluctant to take on the role of leading the entire university.

"The university said, 'Here's what we'll do for you in terms of salary,' and I said, you know, if you're going to do that for me and its going to be a one year blip, then I'm not interested. But, if you're telling me I'm going to achieve this level [of salary] and you're going to keep it up, then I'm interested," he said.

Continued...

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