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YSU board approves Tressel contract, 2015 budget
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University trustees approved the presidential contract for Jim Tressel and the $173 million operating budget for fiscal year 2015 at a meeting Wednesday.
The budget plan includes 15 permanent layoffs and permanently eliminating 43 position vacancies.
Tressel’s official presidential tenure begins July 1 although he will begin serving as acting president Friday.
The contract runs through June 30, 2017, and Tressel will earn $300,000 in base pay his first and second years which may be increased the third year based on a performance review by the board.
Dr. Sudershan Garg, whose last meeting as trustees chairman was Wednesday, said that the presidential search that netted Tressel cost $14,504.
He compared that with the 2010 search when Cynthia E. Anderson was selected, which cost $175,000; and the 2013 search when trustees chose Randy J. Dunn as president, which cost more than $108,000.
“I believe we get a better president than the one who left,” Dr. Garg said, referring to Dunn.
The executive search firm that led the 2013 search waived its fee because Dunn, who resigned after eight months on the job, left so quickly.
“Jim Tressel didn’t bill the university for any expenses during the interview process,” Dr. Garg said.
Trustees may terminate Tressel’s contract with or without cause at any time upon a majority vote. If he’s terminated without cause, Tressel would receive one-year’s severance or pay for the remaining contract term, whichever is less.
If Tressel leaves before the end of the contract within the first year, he’ll pay YSU $200,000 in damages.
If he resigns in the second year, he must pay $175,000 and if he leaves in the third year, the penalty is $150,000.
Tressel will live in the university-owned Pollock House on Wick Avenue — he’s already moved in — and YSU will provide an American-made vehicle from a local dealership for him to use while carrying out his presidential duties.
Carole Weimer was elected by the board as the new chairwoman and Atty. Leonard Schiavone is the vice chairman. Atty. Franklin S. Bennett Jr. remains the board’s secretary.
Wednesday was the last meeting for Ikram Khawaja, interim president who also served as provost and vice president for academic affairs since 2007, who is retiring June 30; and for Shearle Furnish, founding dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, who has resigned to become the founding dean of the College of Arts, Letters & Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He starts his new job July 1.