Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

1,600 Sign Brandeis Petition Protesting Ex-President Jehuda Reinharz’s Hefty Salary

More than 1,600 alumni and students of Brandeis University and others with ties to the institution have signed an online petition protesting pay to former university president Jehuda Reinharz.

Reinharz reportedly receives more than $600,000 a year in retirement pay and at least $800,000 a year from the Mandel Foundation, which he serves as president. The Boston Globe reported last month that Reinharz has earned at least $1.2 million for part-time advisory work since stepping down as president at the end of 2010.

The petition calls on the university’s board of trustees to institute a policy of transparency regarding past, current, and future executive compensation, and to overhaul its compensation policies.

“We owe a great deal to the university, which taught us the tenets of social justice that continue to influence our lives and careers. We expect to see these values reflected in the decisions the university makes,” the petition says. “The gulf of inequality at Brandeis University is growing.”

The petition also accused the university of undermining “its own values when it prioritizes donor relationships and institutional prestige over student access to scholarship and good stewardship of our communal resources.” It warns: “This path is financially unsustainable and irresponsible.”

Brandeis spokeswoman Ellen de Graffenreid told the Globe that the board is considering making changes to its compensation policies and could vote on a proposal at its next meeting in late January.

The university also acknowledged last week that it paid Reinharz’s wife, Shulamit Reinharz, an extra $30,000 a year for hosting university events and fundraising, in addition to her salary as director of the Women’s Studies Research Center and as a professor of sociology.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.