A group of faculty and students at Saint Mary's College have devised a new way to pay the president of an institution: let it be no higher than 10 times that of the lowest-paid employee.
According to the Huffington Post, the group from the Maryland public college consists of about a dozen faculty members and 30 students. The proposal first calls for the lowest annual salary, currently $24,500, to be raised to $30,000.
CLICK HERE to read the proposal in full.
That would mean, under their plan, that the current president of Saint Mary's could only make as much as $300,000, which would mean a $25,000 pay cut. The group said they used school documents only available in print for their research on employee salaries.
The proposal would act as an incentive for schools to either pay the bottom of the payroll more per year or cap the salary of the president. Some leaders of the country's top institutions of higher education, especially at private schools, make upwards of seven-figure annual salaries. These leaders are also given benefits like vacation homes, expensive gifts, car service and more.
On one hand, less money to the school president would allow for an institution to spend more on students. On the other, higher paid janitors and security officers raises the instution's morale among workers.
To represent the other end of the spectrum, the group took statements from anonymous workers at Saint Mary's. The statements came from grounds crew members, janitors, security officers and others. Several said they rely on either one or multiple forms of public assistance to put food on the table and pay for other necessities for their families.
"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 on the group's Facebook page. "Sometimes I need to borrow money from friends, family, and by the time I get my pay check, I'm broke again."
"I have had to take in a complete stranger into my apartment, because I cannot afford to pay the rent by myself along with all utilities," wrote another. "I don't have a car payment nor live above my means but what I make just does not equal what's paid out. In ten years I will be at retirement age. It does not look as if retirement will be any better."
Other institutions have tried to cap the highest paid employee's salary, but Saint Mary's is undoubtedly trying to become among the first in higher education to do so. Their highest to lowest salary ratio for the 2012-2013 academic year was 1:13, not too far off from their desired 1:10.
Comparatively, the average ratio for the country's 500 largest companies is 1:500.