The President's Pledge: 28 College Presidents Commit Portion Of Salary To Fight Poverty

Some of the best lessons are learned outside of the classroom.

Twenty-eight U.S. college presidents are teaching on a global scale as they sign on to The President's Pledge Against Global Poverty. The pledge is a public commitment from current and former college presidents to donate 5 percent of their own salary to fight global poverty both nationally and internationally to organizations of their choice.

Ann M. Svennungsen, the former president of Texas Lutheran University, came up with the idea after conversation with colleagues in higher education.

"Why do these presidents make this pledge publicly?" Svennungsen wrote on the website. "To raise awareness that ending extreme poverty is within our reach, to galvanize the collective will to end suffering caused by severe poverty, and to inspire greater giving to organizations that are doing efficient and effective work."

Is your college president on the list? See which presidents have committed below!

SLIDESHOW:

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• MaryAnn Baenninger

  President of the College of Saint Benedict located in St. Joseph, Minn.

• Linda Bevilacqua

  President of Barry University located in Miami Shores, Fla.

• Joanne Burrows

  President of Clarke University located in Dubuque, Iowa.

• Gaylen J. Byker

  President of Calvin College located in Grand Rapids, Mich.

• Nancy Cantor

  Chancellor of Syracuse University located in Syracuse, N.Y.

• Michael J. Garanzini

  President of Loyola University located in Chicago, Ill.

• Tori Haring-Smith

  President of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Penn.

• Walter Harrison

  President of the University of Hartford, located in Hartford, Conn.

• Mark Heckler

  President of Valparaiso University located in Valparaiso, Ind. <em><strong>CORRECTION:</strong> An earlier version of this slide misnamed the university. </em>

• Dennis H. Holtschneider

  President of DePaul University located in Chicago, Ill.

• John J. Hurley

  President of Canisius College located in Buffalo, N.Y.

• Nannerl O. Keohane

  President Emerita at Duke University and Wellesley College in Durham, N.C.

• Steve LaNasa

  President of Donnelly College located in Kansas City, Kan.

• James T. Laney

  President Emeritus of Emory University located in Atlanta, Ga.

• Jane Dammen McAuliffe

  President of Bryn Mawr located in Bryn Mawr, Penn.

• Margaret A. McKenna

  President Emerita of Lesley University located in Cambridge, Mass.

• Mary J. Meehan

  President of Alverno College located in Milwaukee, Wisc.

• Shirley A. Mullen

  President of Houghton College located in Houghton, N.Y.

• Anne Munley

  President of Marywood College located in Scranton, Penn.

• Christopher B. Nelson

  President of St. John's College located in Annapolis, Md.

• Lynn Pasquerella

  President of Mount Holyoke College located in South Hadley, Mass.

• Mary Reap

  President of Elms College located in Chicopee, Mass.

• Kevin P. Reilly

  President of the University of Wisconsin located in Madison, Wisc.

• George Rupp

  President Emeritus of Columbia and Rice Universities located in New York City, N.Y.

• Kenneth Star

  President of Baylor University located in Waco, Texas.

• Diane Steele

  President of the University of Saint Mary located in Leavenworth, Kan.

• Ann M. Svennungsen

  Past president of Texas Lutheran University located in Seguin, Texas.

• Christopher M. Thomforde

  President of Moravian College located in Bethlehem, Penn.

Comments

[Emily Eisenlohr]

02:33 PM on 05/03/2012

A wonderful initiative.
If anyone lives in Connecticut, they could make an impact close to home. Ask your legislator to support geniune education reform, currently in the last days of debate in Hartford. Connecticut's widest achievement gap in the nation keeps many low-income students in poverty.
Connecticut's charter schools educate the one of six in New Haven who win the lottery to get into those public schools. Their test scores exceed the state average whereas the traditional inner city schools' students have consistently low test scores.
Ask for three key measures. Giving the state education Commissioner authority to take over the bottom twenty schools and manage them. Greater accountability via a fair and transparent teacher evaluation process. And the originally-proposed funding for charter school students. Right now they have to go hat in hand to the private sector for 25% of their budget every year.
Education is the grease on the economic conveyor belt and is key to reducing poverty.

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:37 PM on 05/02/2012

'Global poverty' is just as much a political/social construct as 'the middle class', or 'homelessness', a means by which these folks are granting themselves license, to effectively inflict themselves on those of lesser means. Not all those who claim to be acting in your best interest, or trying to help you, are really out to do that. Winning political 'cheese points' for building Potemkin villages in 3rd-world countries and expanding the scale and scope of government to match, well, kinder, gentler imperialism is still imperialism. My question is, when did the world of 'straight up' academia become so political, and how can you arrange things so that people that want to study don't end up just being hapless patsies in debt for life to pay these people's salaries so they can go on some kind of social crusade etc.? Big Money in higher ed. Billions, even. Doesn't make it generally beneficial to the public, or honest, or well-intentioned. Always that nagging, plaguing issue of self-interest, I think. There's plenty of poor people in the United States, too, but you don't see these folks piling out of the Lexus to ride to their aid. Instead, they get the brown star on the shirt, that kind of thing.

[JoeyDee2]

11:54 AM on 05/02/2012

Listen up college presidents: a portion of your salary? How about some of that to adjunct faculty whom you pay like Walmart floor clerks. For those who don't know what an adjunct is: colleges and universities hire them as "part-timers," regardless of course assignment. Unlivable wages, no benefits, no professional status. Some teach eight or nine courses a semester across multiple campuses to make ends meet. Some are on food stamps. These are people with master's and doctorate degrees. This is one of higher education's dirtiest little secrets.

Drop the "traveling peasant-scholar" model and compensate these people what they're worth, or at least enough to afford the basics.

Not noticing this poverty right under your noses is like Charles Dickens' London where polite, affluent groups formed organizations to relieve starvation in Africa, while right outside their windows, homeless and hungry children went unnoticed.

In case you miss this, I think I'll write to each and every one of you. Don't misunderstand: there are those who are needier (no food and no roof over their heads) and they should be tended to first.

[gravescanada]

10:22 AM on 05/02/2012

We all have to help. Just an example that happened to me and my 3 daughters, aged 19, 16, and 13. We were driving down Weber St in Kitchener, On headed to Waterloo On. At the intersection of Weber and Victoria I glanced to my left and saw an elderly woman (turned out she was 85) laying on the grass next to the road. We pulled into the parking lot and went to her side. She had fallen and had laid there for over 2 hours, meanwhile hundreds of cars had just driven by. I pulled the van back onto the street to the closest spot to her. We helped her up and assisted her into the Van. We drove a couple of miles to her apartment and helped her get in. My question is, why did it take two hours for someone to stop and help this poor woman. It was peak traffic hour. We all must care for those who are less fortunate, and even if it puts us out, a small act of kindness can change a life.

[cbackification]

08:46 AM on 05/02/2012

I was really disappointed to not see University of Dayton on here. I always felt like there was a culture of giving at UD.

[Donns]

08:41 AM on 05/02/2012

I imagine several corporate CEOs will follow suit.

[Roommate]

08:37 AM on 05/02/2012

You can get rid of poverty with condoms. For example there is no poverty in Mars

[medic628]

08:34 AM on 05/02/2012

CEO's of big oil, pharma, and insurance companies need to do the same and more. Do you hear this Mitty?

[TimtheEnchanted]

08:22 AM on 05/02/2012

maybe they and all other overpaid administrators could pledge a portion of their salaries to hire adjunct professors full time.

[Tracy Harmon]

08:07 AM on 05/02/2012

This is a very admirable cause. Hats off to the university presidents for donating their salaries.

[sheoples]

06:13 AM on 05/02/2012

college presidents = ceo's

same thing

[PTerrys]

06:48 AM on 05/02/2012

they are the chief executive of the university, but they are not the same thing. college's have donors and boards.

[jasdmd0]

08:45 AM on 05/02/2012

A don't forget that at most colleges a significant amount of their operating budgets comes from government money (reserach grants, technology upgrade grants, federally subsized student loans, etc) so in essence the college presidents are CEO's of"companies" that receive a significant portion of their operating capital from public funds

[OC Surfer]

05:53 AM on 05/02/2012

It's amazing what you can do if you're in a business which lets you overcharge all your customers.

[adepthrr]

05:29 AM on 05/02/2012

Yeah, because actual change only occurs when dollars are spent and all educators are just snobs that haven't learned how to make money from other people's money, like good conforming capitalists...right? (for every ethical retard that's already posted here)

[allknowing1too]

04:37 AM on 05/02/2012

I'll go out on a limb and say that this will not change anything about poverty. They could donate all of their sorry and it would do nothing.

[cbackification]

08:46 AM on 05/02/2012

Best to not do anything, right?

[nam medic]

03:32 AM on 05/02/2012

Giving a part of your salary to fight global poverty has such a nice ring. Like saving the planet, saving polar bears, and whales. These college presidents should apologize to the American students who are now in debt because of the absurd salaries of the professors and the college administrators. Harvard, Yale and Princeton have over 50 Billion dollars in their "endowments". That is much more cash than any oil company.
Nice PR move, prez's, now give your salaries back to your students.