Oakland University, which raised tuition by 3.75% this summer, approved a $230,000 deferred compensation payment for its former president Gary Russi because, well, golly because OU's Board of Trustees felt they totally owed him that money.
One problem, Russi's contract said he wasn't entitled to that money unless he stayed at OU though the 2014 school year.
Detroit Free Press: Board of Trustees Chairman Michael Kramer defended the payment — approved unanimously by the board Monday without comment — as the just reward for Russi’s 20 years of service to the school.
But Kramer, an attorney with a prominent Detroit law firm, said he was unaware of a clause in Russi’s 2008 employment contract voiding that payment if Russi was fired with cause or resigned before the end of the next school year.
“We felt like because he had been here for so long and done so much for the university, the right thing to do was to pay him his deferred compensation,” Kramer said.
Lawyers quite often ignore written contracts and do something because it just feels so right.
Russi retired suddenly in June, on the same day his wife resigned as the university's women's basketball coach amid scandal. He was required to give OU 180 days notice before leaving the presidency. However, Russi's last day was August 1. The school's board decided to waive that technicality.
Sounds like real cozy operation they're running up there in Rochester.
