Harvard leaders take pay cuts to offset coronavirus losses

Harvard has announced that its top administrators will take salary cuts as universities and colleges seek to save costs amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Harvard President Lawrence Bacow, Executive Vice President Katherine Lapp, and Provost Alan Garber will each take a 25 percent salary cut as revenue to the university falls, according to CNBC.

“While many decisions and choices will come into sharper focus in the future, it is already clear that we need to take some actions immediately to align our spending with the decline in our revenue,” an email from the Harvard officials said.

Harvard is far from alone in seeking to cut costs as tuition and other revenue dry up.

Stanford University ordered a 20 percent pay cut for the school’s provost and president, according to the Daily Post.

The University of Southern California also cut salaries of its senior leadership officers. President Carol Folt said she would take a 20 percent cut in pay, while the school’s provost, senior vice presidents and deans will receive 10 percent cuts. 

Senior officials at the University of Missouri are taking a 10 percent salary cut between May 1 and July 31, according to a local ABC affiliate KMIZ.

“We want to do the least amount of harm to people,” university spokesman Christian Basi said. “But, in an organization whose vast majority of that budget is people, it will be difficult not to make some of those tough decisions.”

The school recently gave room and board refunds to students and families, amounting to nearly $25 million in total costs.