I was terribly surprised by Nancy Lindahl's letter in Friday's Daily, "Yudof raise is appropriate," in which she defends the enormous raise given to University President Mark Yudof. I must admit that Lindahl makes several good points.
"Under President Yudof's leadership, the University has initiated the largest construction program in its history -- a program that will benefit students through better classrooms, lab facilities and residence halls. President Yudof also increased the number of freshman seminars. Students have obviously responded to these and other improvements, because the freshman-to-sophomore retention rate is 85 percent -- the highest in Minnesota."
The reason for my surprise was that I was under the mistaken impression that improving the University was his job -- the one where he is being paid in excess of $300,000 per year. I would like to know why doing his job merits a bonus that could send a student to the University for five years.
I would rather see a life-size bronze statue of Yudof erected on Northrop Plaza. Money is meaningless if you merely wish to reward him for improving the University. I think it would be better to commemorate his service with the naming of a building rather than the wasting of money.