Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Brandeis Retired President Jehuda Reinharz Rakes in $500K Salary

In the three years since Brandeis University president Jehuda Reinharz stepped down from his office, he has been receiving a generous annual salary of up to $500,000, The Boston Globe reported.

The Globe quoted Gordon Fellman, a sociology professor at Brandeis, who said that there was “puzzlement from faculty why he gets paid at all.”

Reinharz, who is 69 and served as the University president from 1994 until 2011, does not teach classes, supervise students or attend faculty meetings, the paper said.

Reinharz countered that he helped Frederick Lawrence, the current president, to raise money for the University, and gives advice to him and other staffers.

“I’ve never worked at Brandeis by the hour,” he is quoted saying, when asked how much time he dedicates to this job. Reinharz also serves as the president of the Mandel Foundation, where he earns $800,000 annually, the Globe wrote.

Brandeis University published a response to the Boston Globe on the same day, writing that Reinharz had “an unparalleled fundraising record and strong relationships with people and organizations closely tied to Brandeis.” It further states that his president emeritus compensation – which ”was just slightly above the median amount paid to retired presidents at peer institutions” – will end in July 2014.

In last year’s salary survey of Jewish communal leaders in the U.S. conducted by the Forward, Brandeis University ranked third for annual salary of the executives of Jewish educational institutions, after Yeshiva University and Touro College. Brandeis University came second for total expenses, only topped by Yeshiva University. The University’s undergraduate tuition for the current academic year is $44,380.

The Globe cited Reinharz’s cushy deal as evidence of a growing trend in higher education towards gilded golden parachutes for top leaders.

It called ex-Boston University chief John Silber a pioneer in the practice, which some experts say drives up tuition costs. Silber persuaded BU to make him chancellor — at a higher salary — after quitting as president. Even after giving up the chancellorship in 2003, he received $6.1 million in 2005, mostly in deferred compensation, the paper said.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

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.