Former Cal chancellor Robert Berdahl got an annual salary of $315,000 for a 13 month leave, provost MRC Greenwood is on a 15 month leave at a $301,840 salary, and the former head of the Lawrence Berkeley labs is finishing up a one-year leave at $336,000. This is all despite the fact that the UC put a policy in place against this back in 1994. The Regents explain that these folks are taking their leaves as administrators before they return to teaching -- because in part their salaries are significantly lower as mere professors ($130,000 for Berdahl, for instance), and these faculty members say they've been using the time off to work on books and lectures.

The UC's been having a hard time explaining their pay practices lately -- the Chron's also uncovered evidence that as part of a lawsuit settlement, another administrator from Davis is receiving $200,000+ with no official job duties, and all administrators got 3% merit pay raises, as tuition goes up 8-10%. They've called in an outside auditor.