Located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan,
tax-exempt Columbia University claims to be a “non-profit” institution. Yet
according to the Trustees of Columbia University’s Form 990 Financial Filing
for 2014, between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, Columbia’s total revenues of
$4,910,706,402 exceeded its total expenses of $4,139,274,346 by over $771
million; and the value of “non-profit” Columbia’s net assets increased from $13
billion to $13.5 billion during the same period.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are accumulated by
“non-profit” Columbia University as a result of its investment of endowment
funds in things like corporate stocks and hedge funds, from which it obtains
dividends or additional income from selling some of its corporate stocks at
stock market prices higher than the prices it paid at the time the corporate
stocks were purchased. Between July 2014 and June 2015, for example, Columbia
University’s annual income from its investments exceeded $856 million. In
addition, during the same period, Columbia University’s annual rental income
from its real estate property exceeded $23 million and its annual income from
“royalties” exceeded $89 million.
Some of the $4.9 billion in annual revenues that the
administration of Columbia University pocketed between July 2014 and June 2015
was then passed on to “sub-recipients” of Columbia’s tax-exempt government and
foundation grant money like Harvard, University of Michigan, M.I.T., Yale,
Stanford, Boston University, Jnpiego Corporation, Brandeis and the Rand
Corporation for “research,” in the form of “sub-recipient” grants. The Columbia
administration, for example, gave:
$1,919,754 in sub-recipient grant money to Harvard
University;
$1,918,002 in sub-recipient grant money to
University of Michigan;
$885,408 in sub-recipient grant money to M.I.T.;
$876,859 in sub-recipient grant money to Yale
University;
$763,294 in sub-recipient grant money to Stanford
University;
$712,489 in sub-recipient grant money to Boston
University;
$486,287 in
sub-recipient grant money to Jnpiego Corporation;
$466,657 in
sub-recipient grant money to Brandeis University;
and
$346,750 in
sub-recipient grant money to the Rand Corporation.
And much of Columbia
University’s $4.9 billion in annual revenuesbetween July 2014 and June 2015
was used to provide total annual compensation payments to some Columbia
University administrators and professors that exceeded by a lot the annual
average salaries paid to most people who live on the Upper West Side of
Manhattan. Total annual compensation payments that exceeded $400,000, for
example, were made by Columbia University to the following university
administrators or professors:
Columbia University
President of Investment Management Nirmal Narvekar received a total annual
compensation of $7,221,568;
Columbia University
Executive VP of Investment Management Peter Holland received a total annual
compensation of $6,509,884;
Columbia University
Clinical Professor David Silvers received a total annual compensation of
$4,633,927;
Columbia University
Professor of Medicine Jeffrey Moses received a total annual compensation of
$2,672,693;
Columbia University Lee
Bollinger received a total annual compensation of $2,473,682;
Columbia University
Professor of Surgery Craig Smith received a total annual compensation of
$2,074,569;
Columbia University
Professor of Surgery Gregg Stone received a total annual compensation of
$1,945,027;
Columbia University
Professor of Surgery Martin Leon received a total annual compensation of
$1,923,004;
Columbia University
Executive VP for Health Sciences Lee Goldman received a total annual
compensation of $1,728,577;
Columbia University
Senior Executive VP Robert Kasdin received a total annual compensation of $879,557;
Columbia University
Incoming Executive VP of University Development and Alumni Amelia Alverson
received a total annual compensation of $795,003;
Columbia University
Trustee Kenneth Forde received a total annual compensation of $791,592;
Columbia University
Provost John Coatsworth received a total annual compensation of $756,218;
Columbia University
General Counsel Jane Booth received a total annual compensation of $645,004;
Columbia University
Executive VP for Finance Anne Sullivan received a total annual compensation of
$639,898;
Columbia University
Executive VP of Facilities Joseph Ienuso received a total annual compensation
of $619,022;
Columbia University
Executive VP of Arts and Sciences David Madigan received a total annual
compensation of $522,143;
Columbia University
former Executive VP for Development and Alumni Susan Feagin received a total
annual compensation of $505,520;
Columbia University
former Provost Allan Brinkley received a total annual compensation of $503,938;
and
Columbia University
Trustees’ Secretary Jerome Davis received a total annual compensation of
$411,487.
In addition, 4,880
other administrators or faculty members of “non-profit” and corporate
tax-exempted “Columbia University Inc.” each individually received--between July 1, 2014 and June
30, 2015--total annual compensations that exceeded $100,000.
Perhaps it’s now time
for the Upper West Side’s “non-profit” Columbia University to finally begin to
start paying a fair share of municipal, state and federal taxes during the 2017
fiscal year?
