`Non-Profit' Columbia University Teachers College Paid Five Professors Over $210,000 Each In Annual Salaries In 2005

In its Form 990 “return of organization exempt from income tax” for 2004, the Teachers College of Columbia University noted it “receives assistance from the state of New York as well as grants and contracts from a variety of federal, state, and local agencies for its exempt purposes.” Yet between September 1, 2004 and August 31, 2005, the tax-exempt Teachers College of Columbia University apparently paid some of its professors a lot more per year than the annual salaries received by either the typical New York City public school teacher, the typical university grad school teaching assistant or the typical non-tenured adjunct college professor.

According to its Form 990 report for 2004, at least five Columbia University Teachers College professors were paid annual salaries of more than $210,000 between September 2004 and September 2005. Columbia University Teachers College Professor Sharon Kagan, for instance, was paid an annual salary of $274,835, while Columbia University Teachers College Professor Henry Levin was paid an annual salary of $239,729. In addition, during the same period Columbia University Teachers College Professor Ruth Vinz was paid a salary of $216,763, Columbia University Teachers College Professor Thomas Bailey was paid a salary of $213,327 and Columbia University Teachers College Professor Charles Basch was paid a salary of $210,617.

The “non-profit” Teachers College of Columbia University also apparently used its tax-exempt status to pay some of its top administrators a lot more per year than your typical New York City public school teacher receives for actually teaching inside a classroom during the academic year. Between September 2004 and September 2005, the then-Columbia University Teachers College President, Arthur Levine, was paid a $315,600 annual salary, while the Dean of Columbia University Teachers College, Darlyne Bailey, was paid a salary of $270,000. In addition, the Vice President for Finance and Administration at Columbia University Teachers College, Fred Schnur, was paid an annual salary of $241,000, while the Vice President for Development and External Affairs at Columbia University Teachers College, Joseph Bosnan, was paid an annual salary of $240,000 between September 2004 and September 2005. The Assistant to the President of the “non-profit” Columbia University Teachers’ College was also paid an annual salary of $149,300 between September 2004 and September 2005.

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`Non-Profit' Columbia University Teachers College's Assets Increased By $12 Million In 2005

For the 2004 fiscal year, the Teachers College of Columbia University filed a “return of organization exempt from income tax.” Yet, according to its Form 990 for 2004, for the year beginning September 1, 2004 and ending September 1, 2005, the Teachers College of Columbia University’s total revenues of $161.5 million exceeded its total expenses of $153.4 million by over $8 million. Although claiming to be a “non-profit” educational institution that received $18.1 million in government grants between September 2004 and September 2005, the Teachers College of Columbia University also earned $4.7 million in dividends and interest from its portfolio of stocks and bonds during this same period and gained an additional $11.8 million in revenues from the sale of some of its assets.

Despite selling some of its stock assets during the fiscal year, between September 2004 and September 2005 the market value of “non-profit” Teachers College of Columbia University’s investment portfolio increased from $174 million to $192.1 million. Over $58 million worth of common stocks and over $68 million worth of hedge fund investment fund holdings were contained in Columbia Teachers College’s portfolio as of September 1, 2005. The “non-profit” Teachers College of Columbia University also owned a “for-profit” education industry business in Japan called TC Kyoika Services/TC Educational Services. The net assets of the tax-exempt Teachers College of Columbia University increased by over $12 million between September 2004 and September 2005, from $191.6 million in 2004 to $203.8 million in 2005.

Besides sitting on the board of directors of the for-profit Washington Post Company/Newsweek media conglomerate (which owns Kaplan Inc./Kaplan Higher Education’s $1.7 billion education industry business), Columbia University President Lee Bollinger also sits on the board of trustees of the Teachers College of Columbia University; and the Teachers College of Columbia University apparently shifted $564,512 from its bank account to Columbia University’s bank account between 2004 and 2005.

The former president of Columbia University Teachers College, Arthur Levine, used to sit on the board of directors of Blackboard Inc., while the current Columbia University Teachers College President, Susan Fuhrman, is also a member of the audit and nomination committee of the for-profit Pearson educational publishing firm—which makes a lot of money from the sale of college textbooks and educational materials to the U.S. educational system.

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Time To Tax Columbia University & Other NYC "Non-Profit" Institutions?

New York City’s Plutocratic Mayor Bloomberg may claim his government doesn’t have money to provide: 1. high-wage jobs for the unemployed; 2. subsidies for workers’ co-ops; 3. tax relief for alternative businesspeople and small homeowners; 4. apartments for the homeless; 5. rent roll-backs for tenants; 6. fare reductions for subway and bus passengers; 7. a restoration of free tuition at CUNY for students; and 8. steady work for musicians, writers, artists and community activists. Yet the “non-profit” sector of New York City’s economy that includes Columbia University has been loaded with money for many years. As an early 1990s book by Robert Finch, The Assassination Of New York, observed long ago:

“The total budget of the city’s non-profit sector in 1989--$32 billion—well-exceeded the city budget. The non-profits, chiefly foundations, universities, voluntary hospitals, churches own about six percent of the city’s $400 billion property roll—yet they pay no taxes…Why have laws regulating political contributions at all, if by means of foundations, they can be easily evaded—just by calling them `philanthropy’? Why, for example, should the Rockefellers, through the Rockefeller Brothers’ Fund be able to give unlimited amounts of money to city government and community organizations to promote their real estate interests?...What does `non-profit’ mean when the average non-profit executive director’s salary in New York is upwards of $175,000 [in 1989] …At a minimum, there should be a stiff wage tax on non-profit executives who make more than the mayor.” [unless the mayor happens to be a billionaire plutocrat from Massachusetts].
(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 1/8/97)

Besides making big money in the 1990s from its Manhattan real estate investments, Columbia University pocketed over $29 million in foundation welfare grants per year during the 1990s. Other top recipients of foundation grants in New York State in the mid-1990s were the following tax-exempt institutions: NYU ($18 million); Rockefeller University [$6.5 million); Ms. Foundation for Women ($5.8 million); WNET/Channel 13 ($5.8 million); Council on Foreign Relations ($5.4 million); Yeshiva University ($5.2 million); CUNY Research ($4.9 million); and Barnard College ($4.4 million).
(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 2/12/97)

The MacArthur Foundation also gave a grant of $175,000 to Columbia University’s Anthropology Department in 1992 to subsidize Columbia University’s Indonesian project when Indonesia was still under the control of the U.S.-backed Suharto dictatorship. Coincidentally, a Columbia University trustee at that time named Margaret Ellerbe Mahoney also sat on the board of directors of the MacArthur Foundation which approved the $175,000 philanthropic grant that was given to Columbia’s “needy” Anthropology Department.
(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 1/8/97)

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Columbia University Uses Israeli-Connected Law Firm To Lobby

One reason Columbia University President Lee Bollinger may have been so eager to issue a statement in June 2007 opposing the Palestinian solidarity academic boycott of Israeli institutions that most anti-war activists in the U.S. and other countries support, is that the law firm that lobbies for Columbia has an “Israel Practice” division. According to the Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel website (www.kramer-levin.com/israel) , for instance, the practice of a firm partner named Richard Gilden “encompasses representation of a number of publicly traded companies based in Israel, as well as representation of major investment banks that have led public offerings of companies based in Israel.” And another Kramer Levin partner, Ernest Wechsler “works extensively with foreign corporations, including a number of companies based in Israel, whose shares are traded in the United States.”

According to the Kramer Levin website, the law firm that lobbies for Columbia serves “a client base that includes some of Israel’s largest and most established companies” and offers “unmatched services and commitment to assist our Israel-based clients in achieving their worldwide objectives.” But Columbia’s legal and lobbying representatives don’t mention that Palestinian territory in the West Bank and elsewhere is still being illegally occupied by the Israeli Establishment’s war machine in 2007. Or that, according to the Jerusalem-based Alternative Information Center website (www.alternativenews.org) :

“Israel’s academic institutions discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel by restricting their enrollment; persecuting them for political involvement; gagging their freedom of expression and actively working to keep international students away from their towns and villages.”

Next: Time To Tax Columbia University & Other NYC “Non-Profit” Institutions?

Columbia University Paid Law Firm $2.6 Million To Lobby In 2005

Columbia University also spent over $37.3 million in “legal fees” between July 2004 and June 2005, according to its Form 990 for 2004 financial filing. The corporate law and lobbying firm of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP (www.kramer-levin.com), with Midtown Manhattan offices at 1177 Ave. of the Americas, was paid over $2.6 million by Columbia University between July 2004 and June 2005.

According to data posted on the New York Temporary State Commission on Lobbying’s web site, Columbia University paid Kramer Levin over $900,000 in 2004 to lobby on behalf of Columbia’s special interests before government agency lobbying “targets” such as New York City Planning Commission members. In 2005, Columbia University then paid Kramer Levin an additional $258,906 to lobby for Columbia; and, in 2006, $518,000 more was paid by Columbia to Kramer Levin to lobby local and state government agencies for Columbia. Yet another $226,443 lobbying contract was given to Kramer Levin by Columbia University during the first six months of 2007, according to the New York Temporary State Commission on Lobbying’s data.

One of the partners involved in the Land Use practice division in the Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel law firm that lobbies for Columbia University is Gary Tarnoff. According to the Kramer Levin website, Tarnoff apparently once worked in the New York City Corporation Counsel’s office as a former Deputy Chief of the Administrative Law Division who advised the New York City Mayor’s Office on “land use, zone and regulatory matters.”

Columbia University’s Kramer Levin attorneys appear regularly before City and State agencies that have land use jurisdiction like the City Council, the City Planning Commission and the Manhattan Borough President; and the law firm’s website notes that it is “advising a prominent university with numerous real estate holdings on zoning and development issues and obtaining land use approvals for all of its new development projects.” Columbia’s legal and lobbying representatives are also “representing a major media corporation in the development of an enlarged headquarters facility by securing…zoning approvals for a 120,500 square foot floor area bonus” and “securing tax exemptions…for developers of office buildings, hotels, retail buildings and other commercial projects.”

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`Non-Profit' Columbia University Paid Professor $3.6 Million Annual Salary In 2005

Although Columbia University claims to be a “public charity” in its Form 990 financial statement for 2004, between July 2004 and June 2005, the Columbia Administration apparently spent a lot of money on budget items that most New Yorkers would not regard as morally legitimate charity expenditures. It spent over $37.7 million on “travel” expenses and $21.5 million on “fund-raising,” for instance; and the Columbia Administration paid annual salaries exceeding $1 million to at least five Columbia University professors.

Columbia University Clinical Professor of Dermatology David Silvers was paid an annual salary of over $3.6 million by the Columbia Administration, while Columbia University Professor of Medicine Jeffrey Moses was paid an annual salary of over $2.1 million. An annual salary of over $1.9 million was also paid to Columbia University Professor of Surgery Eric Rose, a salary of over $1.6 million was paid to Columbia University Professor of Surgery Mehmet Oz and a salary of over $1.5 million was paid to Columbia University Professor of Surgery Craig Smith by Columbia University between July 2004 and June 2005.

Although Columbia University claims to be a “non-profit” institution, its top administrators in 2005 were also being paid annual salaries that were higher than the salaries received by many executives at for-profit business corporations that are not exempt from corporate taxation like Columbia University.

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, for instance, was paid a salary of $664,180 between July 2004 and June 2005, while Columbia University Senior Executive Vice-President Robert Kasdin took home a salary of $431,120. During this same period, Columbia University Executive Vice-President for Finance John Masten was paid an annual salary of $432,110, while another Columbia University Executive Vice-President for Finance, Al Horvath, was paid $335,516. In addition, Columbia University Provost Alan Brinkley was paid an annual salary of $396,250 between July 2004 and June 2005, while Columbia University’s General Counsel, Elizabeth Keefer, was paid $391,380.

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`Non-Profit' Columbia University's Assets Increased By $800 Million In 2005

According to the Form 990 filed by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York for the year beginning July 1, 2004 and ending June 30, 2005, Columbia University claims to be a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) “public charity.” Yet between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2005, Columbia University’s total earnings of $3.1 billion exceeded its total expenses of nearly $2.6 billion by over $500 million.

From its corporate stock and bonds portfolio of over $2.3 billion, for instance, Columbia University earned over $94.7 million in dividends and interest during this period; and, between July 2004 and June 2005, Columbia’s net rental income exceeded $20 million. An additional $495 million was gained from Columbia’s sale of assets during this period. But despite selling some of its assets for cash, between July 2004 and June 2005 the value of “non-profit” Columbia University’s remaining net assets jumped from $6.1 billion to $6.9 billion.

Between June 30, 2005 and June 30, 2006, Columbia earned another $154 million in dividends and interest from its portfolio, which now included $2.7 billion in hedge funds, $763 million in foreign stocks and bonds and $541 million in U.S. equities, according to a September 13, 2006 audit by PriceWaterhouse Cooper. The value of “non-profit” Columbia University’s net assets also jumped another $900 million to $7.8 billion between June 2005 and June 2006, according to the September 13, 2006 report of PriceWaterhouseCooper.

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