" I will leave the debate about Perry's salary to others. I do have a problem with the five years served and eighty percent retirement policy. Since it's inception, I don't think any one has served more than five years. Why would they? Perry will serve his five years and take this golden parachute and run, just like all the others have. Is this standard practice, and is it necessary to attract good candidates? Five years and a eighty percent retirement seems a bit excessive to me. I am wondering if I'm alone in this thought, or do others agree with me on this issue? It would seem that 270,000 would be enough and throwing in the extra 30.000 plus for housing might be a bit of overkill. Yes, I know that EIU sold the old Presidential house several years ago, but it seems to me that with that kind of a salary, he could afford to pay his own housing costs. Lastly, will he have food catered, and paid for by the tax payers, delivered to his house, like one past President and his wife did, almost daily? I worked at EIU at that time and always thought that particularly practice was appalling, and showed the true greedy nature of the then sitting President and his wife. Catering food for official functions is one thing, but when it happens on a daily basis, it's obvious that it's nothing more than greed or laziness on the part of the Presidents family. "

" Out of line? Maybe not when comparing to others. What that means is they are all out of line! Anything more than around $125,000 is way out of line. No one is worth that much. I do not care what you do. "

" Everyone amazes me. We give proof that the salary is inline with the norm - how many of us wish our salaries were the same? And don't unions fight for their people to have salaries in line with what is the "norm" for that position. It's no different, even though it is much more than many of us will ever earn in a year. And why bring up what previous president's chose to do, when we have no idea how Dr. Perry will approach the situation? Here's the real fact - life isn't always fair. Dr. Perry has worked long and hard to be able to pursue a presidential position and to win the opportunity to work for the university. With that HUGE responsibility comes high expectations and a competitive salary. How many of us want to be the university President in Virginia who has to make the decision how to react when a crisis happens on campus and be held responsible for the outcome? Heavy duties and heavy responsibilities are undertaken with strong salaries. I'm not making those kind of decisions in my job, hence my lower salary. "

" Too much for nothing in return. "

" Once again, this is just a forum for people who complain about everything. "

" I think we must have some confidence in the presidential selection committee to look at comparative salaries and pay what was right to get a good man. Considering the way he repeatedly stair-stepped up from one position to one that was higher, obviously he is a person of considerable ability who has done his work well, all of which has been recognized by people in other organizations -- and by members of our Committee. So I assume his salary is fair. Consider too that there are quite a few other people in Charleston who I'm quite confident make more, and we have young people who have left Charleston and our educational system who are making a great deal more than his salary. "

" COULD IT BE THE NORM IS TOO HIGH? AN ADDED THOUGHT; THE PAPER COULD USE A DIFFERENT PICTURE OF DR. PERRY. THE PICTURE USED BY THE PAPER LOOKS LIKE DR. PERRY HAS TRAVELLED THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TOO MANY TIMES WHILE SHOOTING UP AND SMOKING. "

" The chart on page one of the Times Courier was most interesting. Not including the U of I, there were 10 salaries listed for university presidents or chancellors in Illinois. Of those 10, all but three were LOWER salaries than that of Perry. Of the three who got more than Perry, all were heads of universitites that are much larger than EIU. Two of them were NIU and ISU. The third one was SIU, where the president controls campuses that have nearly three times the enrollment of EIU. "

" Some people claim we need to spend a huge amount of money to attract quality people to the presidency. The past four presidents at EIU have all been well paid and all four of them were disappointments and a couple of them were washouts. Money doesn't always buy quality. "

" Apparently money does NOT buy good decision-making in the case of VT, which stands to lose million$ in lawsuits because nothing was done after the first two shootings for nearly 3 hours. In EIU's case, the fox seems to be in charge of the hen house (Webb). One higher ed. administrator taking care of another. "

" I agree with the "Eastern Presidents" post. The past few Eastern presidents were lackluster. "

" this man is gonig too feel real welkome around here. the idea behind the program that is run at E.I.U is no different than a pro sports manager. this man is managing an institution of higher learning. they are attracting Perry from A&M, after 36 yrs. the package deal was what won it. maybe, just maybe, hes gong to do a good job, and with all the winning personalities in Coles County, he'll stay awhile. thanks. (the one, the only.) "

" To those who think the salary of Eastern's President is not too high because it is "in the norm", they should not complain about the cost of electricity because it is "in the norm", nor should they complain about the cost of gasoline, because it is "in the norm." Heck, it is only about a $125,000 more a year than a Congressman makes to run the country, and they are not worth that much a year. "

" To anon: If not Dr. Webb on the search committee, then whom? YOU?! To J. Sanders: your comment regarding the photo of Dr. Perry was rude! And, how do you justify triple electric rates "as the norm"? As for the gas prices, until we become less dependent on the oil industry (maybe walk that 2 blocks instead of firing up the ol’ gas guzzler), we should expect to pay the high gas prices. Finally, Dr. Perry, if you are reading any of this rubbish. . . .please don’t judge the rest of us by the few that right such negative comments. I’m excited to see what you bring to EIU and the community. Best of luck! "