COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State University expects to save
millions of dollars because former president Gordon Gee is giving up
part of his retirement package as he becomes president of West Virginia
University for the second time.
Gee stepped down at Ohio State
last year and agreed to a deal worth $5.8 million over five years,
including an annual salary of $410,000 and a $300,000 annual grant for
research and other expenses as he retained tenure as a professor in the
law college.
Ohio State spokesman Gary Lewis said in an email
Friday that the school anticipates saving about $4 million because its
obligation to meet some of the terms of Gee’s deal ends when he begins
his permanent role at West Virginia, where he has been serving as
interim president for months.
Gee will remain on an unpaid leave
of absence until then, and his employment with Ohio State ends July 1,
according to a letter that was sent to Gee last month by the
university’s general counsel and was released Friday by the school.
"I
am confident that West Virginia University will be positioned for great
success in the future under your leadership," wrote Christopher Culley,
the general counsel.
The letter indicated Gee plans to fulfill
the rest of his pledge to provide $1 million to Ohio State, part of
which may support the Center for Higher Education Enterprise that he
helped create. He will be considered a senior fellow with the center,
and he gets to keep his title of president emeritus.
His departure
doesn’t affect an $800,000 payment that Ohio State made to a retirement
plan for Gee’s benefit, according to the letter. His deal also still
provides lifetime health insurance benefits if he’s not receiving
similar benefits through employment elsewhere.
Gee retired from
his second stint as Ohio State president last summer after receiving
criticism for remarks he made earlier jabbing Roman Catholics and
Southeastern Conference schools. He has apologized for the remarks.
He
was one of the country’s highest-paid college presidents, with total
compensation of about $2 million a year. WVU, where Gee was president
from 1981 to 1985, is not expected to match that salary.
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