I’ve done the math on the termination crisis that the UVA Board of Visitors could face if it were to decide to cut bait with new president Scott Beardsley that was reported recently in a guest column in The Times-Dispatch, and the authors are, on the surface, right on.
More on my “on the surface” observation as we get into this.
Spoiler: “on the surface” is the point of this column.
In their T-D guest column, Jim Finkelstein and Judith Wilde put an eye-popping figure – $8.5 million – as the exposure for the BOV, even as they then point out, correctly, that, for an entity like the University of Virginia, with an annual budget in the $6 billion range, $8.5 million is a rounding error.
Eight-point-five million is around a tenth of a percent of 6 billion – for context: the median household income in Virginia is in the $90,000 range; this rounding error would amount to $127.50 for us average folks.
So, not insignificant, but, not even the cost of a new tire on the SUV in the garage, and not even close to what it costs to get a plumber or an electrician to fix something.
Diving into the contract
Beardsley, per the terms of his contract, signed on Dec. 19, gets a base salary of $1.3 million, inflation-adjusted, going forward, with an annual bonus, subject to the whims of the BOV, capped at $250,000, beginning this coming July 1.
He got a $125,000 signing bonus on Jan. 8, to account for the fact that the contract started mid-year.
ICYMI
- MAGAs on UVA Board of Visitors make attempt to name new president
- The new guy, Scott Beardsley, may be the shortest-term UVA president ever
UVA employees who have been agitating for a living wage for years will note how the outgoing BOV looked out for their guy having to make go with only half a bonus.
Generously, though, Beardsley agreed in his contract to donate his $250,000 bonus for fiscal-year 2026 to a University-approved charity, and in the future years of the deal, which runs through June 30, 2031, he agreed to donate half of any future BOV-approved bonuses to charity.
What a guy.
He also gets two months sabbatical leave and 24 days of paid vacation, so, one day short of five weeks, which is nice.
In addition, there’s the $225,000 in deferred compensation.
More on that later.
The contract also allows Beardsley to remain on the faculty at the Darden School, and spells out that he can retain that position for up to 10 years after the conclusion of his term as UVA president, with compensation following his presidential term set at 60 percent of his presidential salary, so, $780,000 per year.
More on this later, too.
Don’t worry; we’re getting there.
‘Without cause’
The devils in the details of the buyout, to me, is what Beardsley would be entitled to if the UVA Board decides to terminate him from his presidential post, in legal parlance, “without cause,” basically, you didn’t commit any crimes, we don’t think you’re running the University into the ground, we just want to move on.
The contract tells us he is entitled to one year of annual salary, one year of sabbatical leave, plus any additional vested sabbatical leave, which, by my math, would amount to $3.475 million – $1.3 million for the salary, $1.95 million for the 12 months of sabbatical leave spelled out here, plus the six months carried over from his service at the Darden School, and the $225,000 “immediately vested” into his deferred compensation plan upon his signature to the contract last month.
I don’t read the contract to require the University to additional monies for unrealized bonuses, deferred compensation or staff expenses related to his sabbatical – the key here being the language: “Mr. Beardsley shall not be entitled to any further compensation or benefits as President, except as set forth in the University’s various benefit plans with respect to vesting and rights after termination of employment.”
That line about “with respect to vesting” is where I’m coming up with him being entitled to the $225,000 “immediately vested” on his behalf upon him signing his contract.
Question: how far does the BOV go with termination?
This leaves open the matter of Beardsley’s faculty appointment: the contract spells out that Beardsley “may continue employment with the University as a General Faculty member” at the $780,000 annual salary rate set forth earlier in the contract.
Buried in the details, it also requires, in the event that Beardsley were to also be terminated from his faculty position “without cause,” he would be entitled to receive a “lump sum payment” for either two years of his faculty salary and deferred compensation, for one-half of the remaining months of his 10-year term, whichever is greater.
Obviously, if the BOV were to terminate Beardsley tomorrow, the “whichever is greater” would be “one-half of the remaining months of his 10-year term,” which would amount to $5.025 million.
But …
The language with respect to the faculty appointment is clear.
“If the University terminates Mr. Beardsley’s employment as a General Faculty member without cause,” is the phrasing.
The BOV could, and yes, it would be awkward going forward, but no more awkward than the situation with Jim Ryan, who exercised his contractual right to stay on as a tenured professor with UVA Law, vote to terminate Beardsley as president, but do nothing with his Darden faculty appointment.
Which would not trigger the lump sum payout provision.
Bottom line
Beardsley is still entitled to the $3.475 million for the one year of annual salary, one year of sabbatical leave, plus any additional vested sabbatical leave, and the amount “immediately vested” into his deferred compensation plan upon his signature to the contract last month.
Crucially, from a payout perspective, the language in the contract regarding a “without cause” termination does not require a lump sum payment.
The language on this point seems clear to me:
“If the University terminates this Agreement without Cause prior to the expiration of the Term, Mr. Beardsley shall be entitled to receive payments, in accordance with the University’s normal payroll practices …”
Emphasis there: mine.
No lump sum; just more in his regular paychecks.
If the outgoing MAGA BOV thought it was inserting a poison pill into Beardsley’s contract to make it politically difficult for its successor to be able to undo its work in hiring Beardsley, I don’t think they achieved what they wanted to achieve there.
From the archives
- Vanishing act: How UVA’s presidential search missed what took us an hour to find
- AFP column on UVA president search fuels questions at Senate subcommittee hearing
- UVA trying hard with the PR to sell new president Scott Beardsley