For the people at the top of the pay scale, the concept of salary caps is probably discomforting. But the idea of providing more equal wages for all employees is being debated throughout the U.S. and around the world. Last November, Swiss voters rejected an initiative that would have capped executive pay at 12 times that of the lowest-paid employees at their companies. In the U.S., tens of thousands of citizens have signed a petition demanding Congress to cap the salaries of corporate CEOs to 50 times the average worker (let’s not hold our breath on that one). And now, students and faculty members at St. Mary’s College in Maryland have proposed a plan that would limit the salary of their next president to 10 times that of the lowest-paid employees — the janitors, grounds crew workers, security officers and housekeepers, who make anywhere from $24,500 to $30,000 annually.
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St. Mary’s last president — the school currently has an interim president, Ian Newbould, while they hunt for someone permanent — made around $325,000 per year, marking a 1:13 pay ratio, according to the St. Mary’s Wages, the St. Mary’s Way website. This, of course, represents a more balanced ratio than that of America’s largest businesses, where the average pay ratio is 1:354. But as colleges continue to raise tuition and fees, which have increased 1,120 percent since 1978, and the salaries of university presidents grow, even as the pay of the average worker remains stagnant, students can’t help but wonder what, exactly, they’re paying for. At St. Mary’s, the numbers speak for themselves. According to the campaigners’ research, the salaries of St. Mary’s president and vice presidents have risen approximately 91 percent since 2000. The salaries of the lowest-paid employees have increased only 56 percent over the same time period. The pay of associate and full professors has increased at even lower rates — 29 and 22 percent, respectively. Student tuition, meanwhile, is up 60 percent.
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Under St. Mary’s proposal, which would need approval from the board of trustees in order to be implemented, the president’s pay would be cut to about $300,000 annually. Obviously, that’s no small amount of money. The hope is that the pay cap will stop the rapid growth of executive pay and save the university money, which could in turn keep tuition costs down. Beyond that, the campaigners hope a pay cap will encourage the school’s top administrator to consider the workers at the bottom of the totem pole, who anonymously told campaigners that they often struggle to make ends meet. “I have to work overtime every week, had to let some of my bills go [unpaid] like my house phone, cable, and cut back on my heating, food, water, and my gas bill,” one worker wrote. “Sometimes I need to borrow money from friends, family, and by the time I get my pay check, I’m broke again.”
Critics of the salary cap say it will prevent the college from attracting talented higher education executives. They also say that providing lower-income workers with higher pay will raise costs, force job cuts and stifle in-house hiring. But the campaigners say that high pay is no guarantee for excellence, and maintain that the cap will attract candidates who are better fits for the university’s mission. “We’re deeply attached to our public identity,” Sandy Ganzell, math and computer professor at St. Mary’s and one of the campaigners, told The Huffington Post. “There’s no such thing as the best college president out there; there’s the best president for St. Mary’s … and that’s the person who believes in our mission.”
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This Vietnam Vet Is Helping Returning Soldiers Face Their New Foe: Paperwork
Mike “Maddog” Sater knows how difficult it can be to return from war. After enlisting in the Army right out of high school and getting injured in Vietnam by a booby trap, Sater depended on the support of others to heal his wounds and help him start a new civilian life. Now he’s giving back. As a chapter service officer for the Disabled American Veterans in Maryland, Sater meets with with vets and helps them face the new battle that awaits them when they return from war: paperwork. Sater has mastered the complex network of government bureaucracy that is the Veterans Administration, and helps returning soldiers check every box and fill out every form they need to receive benefits, treatment and assistance. It’s a task that can be daunting for a veteran suffering from a disability or PTSD, but these are the people who most need help. Sater travels out of state to meet with veterans who have trouble reaching his office, and has a hundred percent success rate for obtaining services for those who stick with him through the arduous application process, which can take months or even years. For his tireless work, Sater was named the 2014 Maryland Veteran of the Year by Maryland’s Joint Veterans Committee. “I can’t express how much that guy has done for everyone,” Joe Cuocci, adjutant for the Disabled American Veterans, told The Advocate of Westminster and Finksburg.
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This Woman Is Inspiring the Next Generation of Female Engineers
When Mini Balachandran immigrated to the U.S. from India as a young woman, she struggled to learn English. But math and science were languages she always understood. Her father, a mechanical engineer, had taught her how to fix broken items around the house, which sparked her interest in engineering. Now Balachandran is the Production Lead for Naval Air Systems Command Manufacturing and Quality Division in Maryland, and in charge of media outreach for a program called STEM-ing that encourages girls to pursue science and engineering careers. The acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, Inspiring the Next Generation, and that’s exactly what it’s doing. A group of 13 female scientists and engineers volunteer their time to teach a series of workshops for local girls and visit schools. This year’s event will bring in 140 girls in sixth through eighth grades who can choose to take classes on everything from DNA and veterinary medicine to the science of ship wrecks.
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These 13 Business Ideas Could Change the World
The Social Innovation Lab of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland has announced 13 winning projects for 2013-2014. The lab aims to support promising business projects that pioneer solutions to widespread social problems. Check out these budding entrepreneurs’ brilliant ideas, including a portable patient profile app for children and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities, and a website that supports American manufacturing by collecting pledges from citizens to buy a certain amount of made-in-the-USA good each month.
What These Kids Do For Their Parents Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity
Kids of first-generation immigrants often find themselves playing the role of translator for parents trying to navigate the English language. The Literacy Council of Montgomery County in Maryland decided to encourage those kids’ roles as important teachers for their parents by offering multi-generational English classes for immigrants. The classes are offered once-a-week at several schools, and encourage parents and children to work together on literacy skills, especially those that are useful to parents on a day-to-day basis, such as making budgets and reading supermarket signs—though the kids might be hesitant to teach their parents to read report cards too closely.