Terms set for Pernsteiner

The Oregon State Board of Higher Education completed its separation agreement with former Chancellor George Pernsteiner on Monday.

According to the agreement, Pernsteiner will receive $295,128, paid in monthly installments for a full year after his separation on March 31.

In the meantime, Pernsteiner continues to act as chancellor until March 1. After that he will work on a report on how to reconfigure the Oregon University System to integrate with Gov. John Kitzhaber’s proposed higher education overhauls. It will be due to the board March 31.

These changes include creating a Department of Postsecondary Education, which will decrease OUS authority and funding.

Starting April 1, Pernsteiner will also begin exhausting all of his vacation pay and have 30 days to move out of his official chancellor’s residence in Eugene.

Pernsteiner can still work for OUS or any of its institutions in the future.

“If he wanted to teach a class at PSU, he’s not prohibited from doing that,” said Diane Saunders, director of communications for OUS.

It is still unclear how many of the governor’s changes to higher education will be adopted, Saunders said. The legislature opens on Feb. 4, where it could take months to pass bills.

The board will appoint an interim chancellor by March 1.

“They really want to see what the governor does with the recommended changes when the legislature opens,” Saunders said.

The OSBHE approved a 3 percent cost-of-living pay increase for Pernsteiner on Jan. 11, which was retroactive to July 2012. The docket from the approval meeting explained approval was delayed until that time at the chancellor’s request. The board was previously discussing salaries of university presidents and classified staff, who are the unionized staff at universities.