Response to questions regarding presidential compensation

Jan. 27, 2022

Dear Dr. Bailey and members of WMU-AAUP,  

We are writing today to respond to your letter dated January 12, 2022, and to address questions about President Montgomery’s recent raise and bonus. 

The raise and bonus for President Montgomery that we formally approved at our December 16, 2021, board meeting is tied to the President’s December 2020 appraisal. At that time, we were only nine months into the pandemic. Vaccines were not yet available, understanding of COVID-19 was still emerging, and Western was still navigating an environment that suppressed much of the traditional college experience. The pandemic posed an existential threat to the University while University leadership faced severe crosswinds of polarized public opinion, competing priorities, incomplete and changing information, and great uncertainty about enrollment and state funding. In December 2020, we felt the University was finding its footing during the most challenging time in its history. In the attached document (see below) you will find a detailed retrospective of our COVID response. 

We assessed the President’s navigation of COVID to date and continued progress on important initiatives despite severe disruption. We also assessed where our University stands alongside similar institutions with regard to the market for similar positions. In light of this analysis, we determined that the compensation package was appropriate. At the same time, there was still considerable financial uncertainty, so we delayed the final approval until our fiscal picture became clearer. The compensation package is retroactive to July 1, 2021—not 2020, as was misstated during the board meeting. 

Regarding your January 12 letter, there are areas of agreement. We agree that enrollment is one of the greatest challenges facing public universities and Western. A national, regional and statewide contraction of high school graduates combined with a shifting of the burden for paying for college from the public to the student has changed our circumstances and Western must respond. 

We also view your request for greater engagement and communication as an invitation to teamwork, which is encouraging, as navigating our changing world will require a unified effort. 

Where our perspectives diverge is on the timing, scale and complexity of the challenges of modern higher education. Our challenges are far from new. What is new under President Montgomery’s leadership is Western’s vigor in addressing them. Enrollment at Western peaked in 2002 and the trend has been largely on par with falling population trends. Each year classes got a bit smaller. Like a slowly rising temperature, the changes were largely imperceptible from year to year. Around the middle of the last decade, this body began to shift its focus to becoming a university that was much more responsive to the changing needs of our students and our state. This thinking informed the presidential search that led to Dr. Montgomery’s appointment. 

One of the attributes we sought in a president was commitment to Western. We believe Dr. Montgomery has demonstrated his dedication in numerous ways, as we detail below. We also want the campus community to know, with his permission, that President Montgomery has donated approximately $182,000 to WMU without fanfare. With his current commitments, that figure will exceed $200,000 by the end of the fiscal year.

From the beginning, as now, the trustees and President Montgomery have had a clear-eyed understanding that such commitment is key to successfully overcoming systemic challenges. While the quality of a Western education has never wavered, we knew that we needed to become a university that is more responsive to our environment. Gone are the days of abundant state funding and more students than seats in Michigan. For most institutions, the world had changed from universities choosing students to students choosing universities. That is a transformative shift that requires a concomitant shift in perspective. A competitive spirit cannot simply be turned on like a light. It is a culture that must be developed and systems that must be built. 

A college degree is one of the greatest investments that our students and their families will make in their lifetime. As a result, they have become exceedingly discerning in their college choices. Upon first impression and throughout the entire college search, we must be able to convey the quality our students come to know once enrolled. While important, simply telling prospects is not nearly enough. We must show them at every interaction. Our curriculum, pricing, student financial support, visibility, physical campus, sense of community, inclusiveness, ability to create belonging, interactions during visits, and recommendations from current students, counselors and alumni and so many other factors influence student decision-making. Our ability to attract and keep students improves with every step forward on all these dimensions.

From our vantage point, we believe that Western has made and is making meaningful progress under President Montgomery’s leadership on the aspects that will develop our competitive spirit. We have assembled comprehensive evidence that Western is pointed in the right direction and on the move, which can be found in the attached document.

We agree on the challenges. Now let’s work together to address them. It is our hope and intention that our detailed view of progress will provide not only reassurance, but also a view into how we as a governing board define success. We are focused on today, but we are also focused on the next year, decade and century. We welcome a critical eye born of a desire to make Western better. We believe this could be a pivotal moment for Western where we come together rather than fall apart—to envision a future where no single person can do all that is necessary, but everyone can do their part to move us forward. Bright futures are built on possibility. We encourage our entire community to embody a spirit of curiosity that asks how we do more of what’s good and working at Western. 

Sincerely, 
Western Michigan University Board of Trustees