So, interesting tidbit for all you NYU students: our beloved JSex makes the big bucks. The really big bucks. Bet you didn’t know that, huh? Neither did I, until I saw an article in WSN yesterday. Citing their own analysis of NYU’s tax returns, the WSN reported that JSex is receiving an annual compensation of over $1.3 million, a 56% increase from what he was receiving in 2006 (which was $800k).
My initial reaction upon hearing this was to laugh. Others had different reactions. Here are some responses from your NYU peers:

“I can’t say anything about that. It makes me depressed.” – Lucie Graham, Gallatin ‘11

“Yes, I would say that $1.3 million is a lot, but I think we need to be careful and realize that a Board of Trustees of a university (not a Fortune 500 company) usually doesn’t make pay increases like that without good reason. After this financial crisis, a lot of paychecks from Wall Street came out in the open and we saw how much these people were making in a week. Is it that ridiculous to think that a president who runs a humongous private university of over 40,000 people and numerous researchers gets paid, in a year, what some I-bankers make in a month? Also, I think a lot of us assume that the money is coming right out of students’ pockets and I don’t think that’s necessarily true.” – Vera Chau, CAS ‘10

“That’s a lot of money.” – Sheri Rank, CAS ‘11

“My initial response was that I thought it was excessive, but I guess, upon reflection, in comparison to Fortune 500 CEO’s who could rent John Sexton for a day, I think that the he [JSex] has actually done a lot for NYU and has done more to earn it.” – Annie Costa, Gallatin ‘11

“Are you fucking kidding me? Well, that’s where all our tuition goes to.” – Miranda Buxton, Gallatin ‘11

“If he was as integral in the Abu Dhabi deal as I believe he was, then he’s netted NYU hundreds of times his pay increase over the next five years.” – Greg Swanson, Tisch ‘11
o While building a pipe bomb; clarified his previous statement by saying that JSex is “awesome”.

“No comment.” – Patrick Smith, Tisch ‘11

“Wow…That’s depressing for us…I mean, showing his contribution to NYU is great and everything, but I suppose the more I think about it, perhaps more consideration should be placed upon students’ needs and not how much a president’s salary should be raised. Perhaps cutting back on his raises and helping the student body? I mean, he should get compensation for expanding NYU and all that he does to move the university forward, but a 71% increase in compensation since his first year here? That’s a bit much, isn’t it?” – Camtu Vo, CAS ‘11

“I guess the price of hugs has gone up.” – Peter O’Neal, CAS ‘11

Photo: flickr courtesy of yomanimus.