Under an employment contract he fought to keep out of the public eye, outgoing Morgan State University President Earl S. Richardson could become a $300,000-a-year president emeritus with minimal teaching duties when he steps down at the end of the next year.
The contract also protects the veteran state employee's post-presidential benefits even if Richardson were to be fired for incompetence or misconduct - a shelter from accountability that is unusual for public-college presidents in Maryland and around the country, experts say.
Richardson, 65, drew attention to his $389,000-a-year salary and contract last month when he refused to release the document - considered a public record under Maryland law - to one of his most outspoken critics in the General Assembly. On the same day that Del. Galen R. Clagett, a Frederick County Democrat, sued over the dispute, Richardson finally relented, saying in a recent letter that he was releasing the documents "after much consultation with my legal counsel."
Clagett is investigating Richardson's leadership in the wake of a legislative audit that uncovered numerous financial irregularities at Morgan. The lawmaker said he intends to use Annapolis hearings as an opportunity to grill Morgan's governing Board of Regents about Richardson's employment terms.
"His salary has darn near doubled ... on the basis of merit pay" since the contract was signed in 1999, Clagett said. "If he's got problems managing his operations, why is the board giving him merit awards? I'm going to ask questions."
Martin R. Resnick, vice chairman of Morgan's board, said Richardson will receive a merit pay increase this year, and he defended the president's salary and contract as being in line with those of his peers.
"If you consider all the things he has done and accomplished, you would think his salary is inexpensive," said Resnick, who heads the committee that evaluates Richardson's performance each year. "He's not overpaid."
Earlier this year, state auditors found that Morgan made up to $2.4 million in "questionable" and duplicate payments to a prominent contracting company and overpaid two employees a total of $121,400. In response, Clagett's committee pushed to withhold millions of dollars in funding to the Baltimore university and demanded proof of campus procurement reform.
