NKU president turns down raise, bonus despite board vote

Northern Kentucky University President Geoffrey Mearns has declined to accept a merit pay raise and performance bonus under his employment contract, the university's Board of Regents said Thursday.

Instead of accepting the bonus, Mearns directed the board to allocate the $25,000 annual payment to the NKU Foundation to support the Mearns/Proud Family Scholarship Fund, according to a statement distributed Thursday to NKU students, faculty and staff. The fund, which Mearns helped launch, provides scholarships to first-generation NKU students.

Mearns also declined a pay raise, which the board unanimously approved, because performance raises couldn't be given to faculty and staff, said Nathan Smith, chair of NKU's Board of Regents. The amount of the raise was not disclosed in the statement.

The decisions were part of a board annual retreat held Wednesday.

Despite the financial challenges the university is facing, The board credited Mearns, in addition to faculty and staff, for helping lead NKU to meet several goals under its strategic plan and a number of significant milestones.

The board praised Mearns for helping lead the design and programming of the planned $97 million health innovation center and "strong advocacy" for changing the commonwealth's higher education funding model.

"As a board, we have great confidence in the president," Smith said. "We are grateful that he has faithfully served our university with integrity and distinction. We also have great confidence in our faculty and staff leaders."

The board's announcement of support comes after an Enquirer report last month found that NKU faculty are unhappy with university leadership as their wages have stagnated and they question expenses incurred by leaders.

The Council on Postsecondary Education is hosting a town hall meeting Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at NKU to gain public input for a statewide strategic plan for higher education through 2020. The meeting will be at Griffin Hall Room 201 at the Rieveschl Digitorum.

The 2015 NKU graduating class was the largest since the university was founded in 1968. Officials also say the incoming freshman class will be the "most academically qualified in our university's history."

Mearns became NKU's fifth president August 1, 2012. He came to Northern Kentucky from Cleveland State University.