BEVERLY — Residents of Beverly's scenic Longwood Drive will likely have a new neighbor soon.
Chicago State University president Wayne Watson is retiring from the job he's held since 2009. That means the white mansion at 10400 S. Longwood Drive will be handed over to the incoming president.
But state Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-18th) has questioned whether the sprawling property miles away from Chicago State's main campus at 9501 S. King Drive in Roseland ought to be part of the deal.
Cunningham is chairman of the Illinois State Senate’s Higher Education Sub-committee on Executive Compensation. The group was created after reports surfaced of golden parachute deals at the College of DuPage and exorbitant salaries and perks elsewhere including at the University of Illinois.
Chicago State was never a target of the sub-committee. But in the wake of the group's findings, it might be time to overhaul the compensation packages of university presidents everywhere, Cunningham said.
"There is kind of an opportunity here for the university, because there is a new person coming in," Cunningham said.
Chicago State is hardly the only public university to offer housing to its leader. In fact, Northern Illinois, Western Illinois, Illinois State and University of Illinois all offer similar benefits, according to Cunningham's report.
For those that don't offer housing, a stipend is often paid to university chancellors or presidents to make up for it. The average housing allowance in Illinois is $28,000 annually. Elaine Maimon at Governor’s State University takes home the biggest such housing allowance at $35,000 annually, according to the statewide report released in May.
Thomas Wogan, spokesman for Chicago State, said housing is commonly part of any compensation package when recruiting a top university executive. Chicago State's mansion in Beverly is owned outright. So it would be foolish to sell the house only to have to pay a stipend to the next president.
"For our purposes, it doesn't make any sense to lose the house," said Wogan, adding that the house is also used to host university events including the recent Jazz on the Hill concert.
Housing is only part of the overall compensation package that will be used to recruit a new executive at Chicago State. Salary is the main component, and Chicago State expects to offer its new leader pay comparable to that of Governor's State and Northeastern Illinois universities, Wogan said.
That should give the incoming Chicago State president a salary of about $300,000, according to Cunningham's report.
By comparison, Watson's salary is $199,570. But his salary was reduced in March 2014 so Watson could continue to collect an annual pension of $140,000 that he earned from his previous position as chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, according to a 2014 report in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Besides the house, Watson also occasionally uses a university vehicle, but that's where his perks end. At other universities in Cunningham's report, country club memberships, lavish furniture and other extras are offered to top brass.
For its part, Chicago State said its compensation package, which includes the house on Longwood Drive, is in line with others in the state and across the country. Wogan said a search committee is on target to hire a new president by mid-January.
He said next leader is expected to live in the mansion, and Wogan hopes he or she continues to use the house atop the ridge to reach out to alumni and potential students in the area.
Cunningham recognized that Chicago State alone cannot bring about wholesale change. But he also believes that top salaries in higher education must be reduced in an effort to keep tuition affordable.
"As a parent, the last excuse I want to hear from my children is, 'Well, everybody else is doing it,'" Cunningham said.
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