Dive Brief:
- The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is under fire from faculty over a hefty monetary payout for its departing leader, Chancellor Rodney Bennett, as the campus braces for program and faculty cuts he put in place.
- Bennett unexpectedly announced Monday that he would resign effective Jan. 12. A copy of his separation agreement obtained by local media through records requests details a one-time payment of $1.1 million.
- On Tuesday, the UNL American Association of University Professors blasted the severance payment and called for a halt to all faculty cuts and reconsideration of the program eliminations approved by the University of Nebraska board of regents last month.
Dive Insight:
UNL has gone through a tumultuous few months under Bennett as he has tried to eliminate millions of dollars from the university’s budget in an effort to slash away at a structural deficit.
In September, he proposed axing six academic programs to cut costs. Faculty quickly condemned the plan and questioned its methodology. They also warned that Nebraska would suffer from losing subject-matter knowhow.
Critics also questioned the fiscal necessity of the program eliminations. An auditor hired by the AAUP voiced doubt the university was undergoing a budget crisis, finding historical budget surpluses and other markers of financial health.
Bennett would go on to reduce his proposal to cutting four academic programs and over 50 jobs, a move regents later approved. In November, UNL’s faculty senate voted no confidence in the chancellor — the first such vote in the university’s history.
The faculty body voted overwhelmingly for the measure, which alleged “failures in strategic leadership, fiscal stewardship, governance integrity, external relations, and personnel management.”
Less than two months later, Bennett resigned. His message to the UNL community focused on positives, including fundraising milestones and new records for six-year graduation rates and first-year student retention under his tenure.
“Your energy, your enthusiasm, your optimism, and your determination to do your part to make our communities, our state, and our world better are an inspiration to us all, and it has been my highest honor and privilege to have served as your Chancellor,” Bennett, who joined UNL as chancellor in 2023, wrote on Monday.
And then came the revelations about his severance, which was first unearthed by the Lincoln Journal Star.
The UNL AAUP pounced on the payment, arguing that it “demonstrates that substantial funds remain available for executive compensation even as entire academic units are dismantled and careers are disrupted, if not destroyed.”
“The university cannot credibly claim that it lacks the resources to sustain academic programs and faculty positions while simultaneously paying over a million dollars to a failed chancellor,” Sarah Zuckerman, president of the AAUP chapter, said in a statement. Zuckerman is a professor in UNL's educational administration program, one of the departments set for elimination.
She added, “This payout exposes the administration’s financial crisis narrative as a matter of priorities, not necessity.”
Replacing Bennett in the interim is Kathy Ankerson, who served as an executive vice chancellor at UNL until her 2024 retirement. Ankerson and system President Jeffrey Gold plan to hold campus listening sessions in the coming months to take public input. As Gold put it in a public message, “The news about Chancellor Bennett is one change on top of many other changes” at UNL.
