UC still paying ex-No. 2 official $25,000 a month
She resigned amid probe of university's hiring of son, friend
- Tanya Schevitz, Todd Wallack, SF Chronicle Staff Writers, November 26, 2005
The University of California's second in command, who resigned three weeks ago under the cloud of a conflict-of-interest investigation, has taken a sabbatical but remains on the university payroll -- at more than $25,000 a month.
UC spokesman Paul Schwartz said former Provost M.R.C. Greenwood will receive $25,153 a month in salary -- equaling $301,836 a year -- while on sabbatical. That's higher than the $269,000 annual salary she previously received as chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, a post she held for eight years, but less than the $380,000 a year she got when she became provost in April 2004.
Greenwood, 62, stepped down from her post Nov. 4 after UC officials opened an inquiry into the university's hiring of two people with ties to her: her son and a friend with whom she owned rental property.
Another university spokesman, Michael Reese, refused to provide details on how long Greenwood's sabbatical will last and what she will be doing with the time. However, Greenwood appears to have been promised a year's paid sabbatical, according to a summary of her "terms and conditions of employment as provost," a document created by UC earlier this month -- after she resigned.
UC Davis law Professor Daniel Simmons said it's not unusual for retiring UC administrators to be given a year's sabbatical to catch up in their field before returning to teaching and research.
"I think it's very common practice,'' said Simmons, a former chairman of UC's academic senate. "It's appropriate as an opportunity for someone to restart their research. It takes a while to get back up to speed."
However, the paid leave will probably irk some lower-paid university employees, who aren't eligible for the perk.
"Where is the logic and ethics in that?" asked Amatullah Alaji-Sabrie, chief negotiator for the Coalition of University Employees, a union that represents about 15,000 clerical workers, public safety officers and cashiers at UC.
Union leaders complain many members are not paid a living wage. "It is so unconscionable," Alaji-Sabrie said. "They are just brazen in what they do. Her (Greenwood) own conscience should move her to say, 'Thanks, but no thanks.' "
The UC investigation, which is still under way, is looking into the possibility of impropriety in Greenwood's decision last year to promote her friend, UC Santa Cruz Vice Provost Lynda Goff, to jobs at UC's headquarters in Oakland. Goff, 56, was first hired as a faculty associate and then as director of UC's new science and math initiative, which carries an annual salary of $192,100. In addition to being friends, Greenwood and Goff owned rental property together in Davis at the time.
UC also put one of Greenwood's subordinates, Winston Doby, vice president of student affairs, on paid administrative leave while it looks into whether he did anything improper to help Greenwood's son, James Greenwood, land a job in August as a paid senior intern at UC's new campus in Merced with an annual salary of $45,000.
When her sabbatical ends, Greenwood appears to be planning a return to UC Davis, where she once was a professor, dean of graduate studies and vice provost for academic outreach. In recent weeks, she set up a new e-mail address at UC Davis. And UC promised her the right to return to teaching at UC Davis as a professor of nutrition and internal medicine, according to the "terms and conditions'' document. In addition, the document says, she will receive university funding for "research assistance" for two years at UC Davis. It did not contain a dollar amount for the research funding.
The document also assures Greenwood that she will be paid above the top of the salary scale for an experienced professor -- meaning her annual salary will be more than $151,800.
UC spokesman Schwartz said her exact salary has yet to be determined, but it would be "consistent with faculty salaries at her rank, step and level of accomplishment."
UC officials declined to say whether Greenwood would receive any additional compensation, such as a relocation allowance to move back to Davis. Greenwood previously received $125,000 to move from Santa Cruz to Oakland, in addition to money for temporary housing and actual moving expenses.
The refusal to provide further details comes just a week after UC President Robert Dynes and other UC leaders promised greater transparency in UC's compensation and hiring practices.
"As a public university, transparency and disclosure are very important," UC Board of Regents Chairman Gerald Parsky said at a regents meeting last week in Berkeley. "The ability of the public to support this university and the ability of the regents to support this university depend on a knowledge base, and it is important that we understand everything that is going on."
Although Greenwood was based in Oakland as provost, she has maintained ties to Davis. Her economic disclosure forms show she owned rental property in Davis as late as March 30. And UC promised to provide her transportation between Davis and Oakland "on an as-needed basis." She has also visited the area frequently, said Simmons, the UC Davis professor.
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