May 22, 2013

Report: Ohio State’s Gee’s Expenses in the Millions

September 24, 2012 by 15 Comments

Ohio State president Gordon Gee is not only the highest-paid president president of a domestic, public university, but his expenses reportedly total just as much as his $8.6 million in salary.

The Dayton Daily News reports that The Ohio State University has allocated roughly $7.7 million for Gee “to travel the globe, throw parties, wine and dine donors, woo prospective faculty, hang out with students and staff and maintain a 9,600-square-foot mansion on 1.3 acres.”  The report adds that the university spends “tens of thousands” of dollars alone branding the University’s president via his bow tie. Since 2007, Ohio State has spent more than $64,000 on bow ties, bow tie cookies and O-H and bow tie pins for Gee and others to distribute.

Gee’s discretionary spending — a category that allegedly includes everything from foreign trips to tailgates before home football games — has far surpassed that of both William Kirwan and Holbrook, his predecessors. Under Gee, discretionary spending leapt a reported 68.5 percent over what Holbrook had been averaging during her five-year tenure.

Per the Daily News, Gee did not make himself available for an interview.

[Related: OSU Week 4: Are the Buckeyes Really the Best Team in the Big Ten?]

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  • JK

    Sickening.

  • KrisB

    Does the article mention how much money Gee bring into the school? I’m guessing it’s a lot more then he’s spending.

  • Garry_Owen

    Well, it is a budgeted line-item. Not sure if this post is criticism, or just reporting data. We can criticize the university’s budgeting process, but I don’t see where there’s anything to criticize with Gee, exactly (and I’m certainly no big fan of the guy).

  • Garry_Owen

    Agree. For all of the reasons to dislike the guy (and there are many, in my opinion), it’s my understanding that he is a really effective fundraiser.

  • osualumni

    I agree, in the years Gee has been president (this term), we have a new union, state of the art library, improvements in the dorm rooms, academic rankings are going up in almost all categories, donations are up, research grants are up, Wexner donated 100 million! etc……. Gee may spend and say some stupid things, but it is no where near what he has done both academically and financially for The Ohio State University.

  • deesh

    As an OSU student, I’m not surprised at all. He goes around to parties, poses for pictures, and socializes with the students. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but all of the students praise him for going out to the point that it’s kind of disgusting. Students don’t take a step back and think about why they like him, which it leads me to believe that they pay him to be a socialite. This report just confirms that.

  • Tron

    It doesn’t matter how much money he brings into the school. HE’S SUPPOSED TO DO THAT, thats part of his job description. What shouldn’t happen is a state university paying for an employees clothing items. I don’t know about any of you, but my office doesn’t supply me with dress shirts and pants.

  • Garry_Owen

    You also aren’t the successful president of one of the highest revenue-producing public universities in the world. It may be “his job” to bring in money, but he is very, very successful at his job, in some small part because of the goofy image that he projects. The clothes make the man, as they say, and this man brings in piles and piles of cash. The university appreciates that latter, and is therefore happy to contribute the former. I highly doubt that a penny of “state” money goes toward this.
    I’m sure that if we were all successful in bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars to our respective places of business, our employers would happily fund our sweet, sweet takes on business casual.

  • JK

    So because Mr Wexner donated 100 million to get his name on the hospital, this makes it ok? You don’t have to be a effective fundraiser to bring money to tOSU the name does it itself.. I’m sorry but 64K on BOW TIES, there is absolutely no way thats justifiable at all.

  • toddyus

    I’ve only read this article, not the full report, but it sounds like $64K was spent on the bowtie branded items, not merely the ties themselves. As a professional marketer, I can tell you that is a pretty paltry spend for an organization this size. This is one thing I hate about the media, they don’t provide full context.

    A performance report that only looks at the investment cost or only looks at the results is incomplete. What was the return on investment? For that calculation you need costs and results.

  • Garry_Owen

    You think Jim Tressel bought any of his sweater vests?
    Look, if Gee (whose trademark image is undeniably goofy bow ties) brings in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations and the university shells out $1 or $64,000 for that image, then it’s arguably justifiable as a marketing expense. Perhaps no collection of bow ties is worth $64k (and that may be your argument), but I find no outrage in the principle of the university paying for them.
    And I say this as an alumnus who paid (and is still paying) a ton of money for my OSU education.

  • mmonast

    You didn’t think it was important to mention that his expenses are paid out of an endowment fund and no state tax dollars are used at all?

  • mgbode

    i’m surprised people are surprised :)

    it’s all part of the big business that the universities are apart of these days. they have to spend money to make money. i’m sure part of these parties are with some of the folks in DC who decide how to allocate grant money, etc.

    i don’t like the system, but Ohio State doesn’t have much choice but to play the system as best they can.

  • REEPJP

    Somewhere, someone who cares a whole lot more, and with a whole lot more time than me will think of a way to relate this to tat gate and/or paying student athletes. I don’t know exactly how they’ll spin it, but even some of the comments here start a little down the “he makes the University so much money, so you can justify it” path. I’m not agreeing or disagreeing, just pointing it out.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lmclaughlin16 Luke McLaughlin

    I agree. I am also an OSU student and people obsess over Gee because he showed up at a party they were also at. I don’t really have an opinion on Gee other than he seems like a great face as the president of OSU.