My original New Years resolution was to continue to live rent-free in Rodney Bennett’s mind. But seeing as how he has given his traditional one week’s notice, there is clearly no need. However, I would like to take this space to discuss the Chancellor’s Golden Parachute.
A Study in Contrasts
Act 1: EDAD meeting with mid-level admin who have been recruited to serve as this round’s bearers of bad news
Faculty: I would really love you to help me understand this. Had I not been successful when I went up for tenure, I would not immediately have been given a termination notice in October or November. I would get a notice in May and have a year to find a new position. Right?
Administrator: Right, right.
Faculty How is it now that I have tenure, that you all are not giving us a full academic year to look for work? Without any appeals process that would have followed had I not received tenure.
Administrator: If it were my decision, you would.
Faculty: Whose decision is it?
Administrator: It’s at this system level. They, they have made the decision that we would send out these one-year notices.
Faculty: Who are they?
Administrator: Well, ultimately the president. I mean, he’s in charge.
Act 2: The Chancellor’s Resignation Agreement, Cliffnotes Version (long form attached, hat tip to Chris Dunker)
Chancellor Bennett wishes to resign from his employment from the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (BRUN) because it is in his best interest.
The Chancellor needs to give us all our stuff back.
We will give the Chancellor $1,235,308, plus $36,308 to cover his medical, vision, and dental insurance, and also to keep his mouth shut.
“Upon the Effective Date, all duties and obligations under the Contract of Employment, including, without limitation, any obligation to further compensate Chancellor Bennett for any work not yet performed, shall cease, with the exception that the Chancellor’s obligations to not disclose confidential information or disparage the University shall survive the termination of said Contract.”
Further, we will be paying him off to shut his mouth about this whole agreement:
“Nondisclosure. Chancellor Bennett and BRUN shall not, and shall cause their agents, trustees, attorneys, and/or representatives not to, disclose the terms of this Agreement to any third party except as required by Neb. Rev. Stat. ยงยง 84-712, et seq, or 84-713 (Reissue 2014). Notwithstanding the foregoing and anything to the contrary, nothing in this Agreement shall prevent the disclosure of the terms hereunder to lawyers, accountants, auditors, or insurers/ reinsurers (collectively “Recipients”), provided the disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to effectuate the terms of this Agreement, or is required for tax, financial reporting, or governmental compliance purposes. Prior to disclosure, the Recipients shall be informed of the confidential nature of the information and shall agree to keep such information confidential to the extent allowed by law. Furthermore, nothing in this Agreement shall prevent the Parties from disclosing the terms of this Agreement: (1) to BRUN’s Officers, disectors, or shareholders, or members of the BRUN’s board of directors; (2) to defend a party’s legal insterest in a Charge, investigation, or audit; (3) pursuant to a duly-issued subpoena, court order, or other duty to disclose imposed by law; (4) to immediate family members, tax or financial advisors, attorneys, or medical providers by Chancellor Bennett’s immediate family members, tax or financial advisors, attorney’s or medical providers by Channcellor Bennett.
Again, we remind the Chancellor to STFU, in exchange for a letter of reference
Non-Disparagement. Pursuant to this Agreement and Section 14 of the Contract of Employment, Chancellor Bennett shall not make, in any manner or at any time, any negative or disparaging comments or statements regarding the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, the University of Nebraska System, its separate universities, or any of their past or current regents, administrative officers, deans, employees, agents, students, colleges, departments, divisions, programs or services. BRUN employees including, the University President, Provost, Vice Presidents, and Chancellors, shall not make any negative or disparaging comments or statements regarding Chancellor Bennett. On or before the Effective Date, the Office of the President will prepare and provide Chancellor Bennett with a reference letter in a form and format mutually agreeable to the parties. He may share this letter with prospective employers. The University shall not be held liable for any employment decisions based on that reference letter. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this Section shall prevent either Party from making any truthful statement to the extent (A) necessary to rebut any untrue public statements, (B) necessary with respect to any litigation, arbitration, or mediation involving this Agreement and the enforcement thereof, or (C) required by law or by any court, arbitrator, mediator or administrative or legislative body (including any committee thereof) with jurisdiction over such Party. Any violation of this Section shall constitute a material breach of this Agreement and shall render the offending Party liable for all resultant damages or harm arising from that breach.
The Chancellor will have 21 days to read this gooblygook and sign it, followed by 7 days to change his mind. Which means by the time he let y’all know he was peacing out the morning of January 5th, this agreement had been drafted in early December, if not before that. You know, before he hung four departments and their 52 faculty members and 500+ students out to dry at the December 5th BOR meeting.
Conclusion
Given that there was an attempt to stop the vote of no confidence in mid-November because something was in the works that would make such a vote irrelevant, I can only conclude that this had been in the works prior to December 5th and that Rodney Bennett was paid $1.1 million to kill four departments.
A sum of money that would go a long way to keeping any one of them afloat for a full year.
President Gold has defended the Bogus Bennett Bonus as simply ensuring the Chancellor gets his sick and vacation days paid out. Meanwhile, terminated faculty have had their contracts broken and will not be given a full academic year to find new employment. The August 2026 hiring cycle is essentially over. Offers are being made or will be soon. For faculty who didn’t start looking this fall, the prospect of 6-8 months of unemployment may be a reality.
At least in my field, there were very few comparable jobs this year. So we’ll all be lucky to land a job at all, let alone one commiserate to our current status that allows us to do the same work we were doing.
But sure, dude, let’s make sure Bennett has his sick days paid out (which apparently he wasn’t taking when he was notably never on campus?) at a rate significantly higher than his annual salary.
