College President: Politician or Educator?

At such a time when our economy is in a rut and college students are doing everything and anything to pay for their education, we are given stats on 448 private institutions and the ones who make all the decisions, college and university presidents (administrators). The Chronicle of Higher Education compiled compensation figures from the Internal Revenue Service's Form 990, which is filed by most major nonprofit entities. According to The Chronicle, Bernard Lander, founder and president of Touro College is at the very top of the earnings list. For the 2008-09 school year, he earned a massive $4,786,830, including $4.2 million in retroactive pay and retirement benefits. Many may think that this position as a college president is all about education, but it is revealed that it definitely contains a high political aspect; with responsibilities including activities like fund-raising and establishing and maintaining connections with local government. Thus, there are less people qualified for this particular profession.