Foundation Backed Up Controversial Deal

A nonprofit fundraising foundation for the University of Iowa made an announcement on Thursday, stating that they did, in fact, approve the controversial agreement in which the school president’s husband would be paid a salary each year, about $54,000 worth of private funds, just by attending different school events. In the past few days, there have been a lot of questions circulating about Sally Mason and her husband, Ken Mason’s, salary as a fundraiser. While questions had gone unanswered for days, the Foundation President at the University of Iowa, Lynette Marshall, along with the Board Chair, Charles Kierscht, released statements showing that they did agree to use some donation money to pay Ken Mason as a fundraiser while his wife, Sally Mason, was hired to be the leader of the university.

In the meantime, Ken Mason also works part-time as a lecturer in biology, in which he earns roughly $53,000, which means that along with his lecturing and fundraising, he was earning a salary of nearly $107,000. Earlier in the month, the Des Moines Register showed that he was receiving payment for the duties he was participating in, which led to controversy, especially since two of the other presidents of the university have wives who do not get paid for work that they do, even though the work is much like what Ken Mason does while attending different fundraisers. Many were wondering what was going on and were not sure whether or not Sally Mason was telling the truth about the approval.

However, officials for the university as well as the Iowa Board of Regents President, Craig Lang, have chosen to defend the deal they made with Sally Mason, allowing her husband to receive a salary for the work that he did. While they defend the deal, they still are struggling to explain how the deal came to light, especially since the deal has never been put into writing. It was also never something that had been announced to the public. Many say that Ken Mason has been very useful as an assistant to his wife, helping her to raise millions of dollars in donations while also attending assorted fundraisers ever since he has been hired.

Sally Mason previous stated that when she was first offered the job, she agreed to take on the position under one particular condition, helping her husband to be able to work as a biology instructor while also working to help her with the fundraising aspect of her job. Mason also says her lawyer told her she should have gotten it in writing but that she felt confident after the agreement had been made, that they would put it in writing immediately after. Many people are questioning where the paperwork is and who implemented this whole thing. Right now there is a whole lot of confusion surrounding the circumstances.