Leadership is all about action?setting goals and reaching them, making promises and fulfilling them.

University of Utah President Bernie Machen knows this. He is a strong leader who gets results.

But sometimes leaders act to make a statement, even if the statement doesn’t find a cure for cancer or increase diversity. Machen needs to make such a statement now, he needs to make a statement that the faculty and their president are on the same team, working for the same goal, even if it does hurt his own pocketbook.

Machen needs to forgo any sort of pay raise. He needs to take the money and funnel it to a needy faculty member or two. On the face of it, the idea doesn’t seem to accomplish a whole lot (unless you are that faculty member), but with the current political and economic climate both on campus and in the state, such a symbolic gesture would send shockwaves through the U.

Those shockwaves would act as an important weapon in the fight against the brain drain.

Predatory colleges are invading the U and capturing our faculty with offers of competitive salaries?offers the U can’t currently match.

The campus’ best and brightest are recruited away, diluting the educational quality of the state’s flagship university.

Machen is not only aware of the brain drain, he has lobbied the state Legislature for two years to get salary-equity funds.

The $1.2 million the U has received through the lobbying efforts goes to the most underpaid faculty. Salary equity money helps raise the pay of all faculty to 90 percent of the average in their area of study. While the money has made a nice dent, the problem remains, and a slowing economy almost ensures that the U will not reach its goal in the near future.

It will take another $3.5 million to raise everyone to this pretty sad benchmark of 10 percent below the average.

Many faculty are living off of substandard pay, and the fight for adequate raises takes more effort than finding a decent parking spot on this campus.

But just like finding a spot with his all-powerful X Pass, Machen has no trouble running into large pay raises of his own.

The most recent increase, approved by the state Board of Regents in August, netted the president an additional $35,200 annually. That is more than the full salary of some U faculty.

The raise vaults Machen’s pay to $271,000. When he first became president four years ago, Machen made $198,000.

The additional $73,000 equates to a 37 percent pay raise in four years. To put this in perspective, the average state employee (which the faculty are considered) had their pay increase 32 percent in nine years.

Gov. Mike Leavitt’s pay went up 38 percent. Machen hit a similar mark a full five years earlier.

Comparing Leavitt to Machen makes sense, since both live in mansions provided by the state, both have free housekeepers, free cooks, free gardeners. In essence, they don’t have a whole lot of bills.

That’s probably a good thing because Leavitt and Machen have no trouble finding ways to fill their time, nor should they.

Machen is a hard worker who produces on most of his promises. He deserves a competitive salary for the services he provides, but then again, so do the faculty.

Quality faculty are leaving the U because the average 3 to 5 percent pay raises isn’t enough to keep them happy. Many are not even at the magical 90 percent of the average salary.

By the way, Machen received a 15 percent pay increase this year and now makes more than the national median for comparable college presidents.

Machen gets his money, but the faculty members are not getting theirs. This isn’t because Machen is sitting on his hands.

He has lobbied lawmakers and the Regents. Now he has to make a stand.

Machen will probably survive on his $271,000 a year (heck, he recently bought a nice, shiny red Harley).

So the next time the Regents throw a huge wad of cash his way, Machen should pick it up and hand it to the nearest faculty member.

He should follow the lead of Weber State University President Paul Thompson.

In 1995 and ’96, Thompson refused to take his pay raises that would have netted him $15,000. An enrollment drop threatened the academic quality of the university. Thompson sacrificed his own pay to help fund the programs. While his efforts didn’t fix the problem, it showed the campus community he was doing everything in his power.

Machen is now faced with a similar situation. A soft economy threatens budget cuts and seriously endangers any chance of getting a third installment of salary-equity money. Many faculty will likely leave, damaging the U’s educational quality.

In a show of good faith, Machen should tell the faculty he will do everything in his power to increase pay. He should double-up his lobbying efforts, letting lawmakers and Regents alike know that all additional money should be funneled toward the faculty, even money that would have landed in his pocket.

Or at the very least, Machen should say he wants his pay raises tied to the general pay raises that all faculty receive. If they get 4 percent, he gets 4 percent.

This symbolic gesture will show the faculty, and the politicians, that he remains steadfast in his efforts to help.

The move would bolster morale and create a rallying point where faculty and administrators could come together.

Faculty are likely to get snubbed by legislators worried about a falling economy, but Machen probably won’t. He needs to share his wealth, even if it only helps a handful of faculty.

He must send a message.

Matt welcomes feedback at: [email protected] or send letters to the editor at: [email protected].