Raymond Burse, is currently the interim president for Kentucky State University. This position comes with a $349,869 salary. Burse, who actually used to be the president for KSU between 1982-1989, left KSU and practiced law for 6 years. He also had a very successful career at General Electric, then retired in 2012 after 17 years, with great benefits.
Burse was asked to stand in until they find a permanent president for the college, but soon realized that he didn’t need all that money. He lowered his salary by 90,124.96 to $259,745 in order to increase the paychecks of the 24 lowest paid employees. “I think it will be impactful. How impactful, I don’t know,” said Raymond Burse
Some of the employees pay were as low as $7.25 an hour, and now has risen by as much as 40%, to $10.25 an hour. “This is not a gift … It is an investment,” he said. “I expect these people to work hard because they are all a part of this university.” He is also not expecting other colleges to follow his lead. Burse feels he didn’t need the money and it was the right thing to do.
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Renee says
Bravo, what a role model! This should also be on the front page of every major newspaper.
Kim says
That is an amazing example of what a man of character looks like!