Overview
- Michigan State’s board, meeting Sunday night online, voted to offer Kevin Guskiewicz a contract lifting base pay to $2 million, raising deferred pay to $250,000, and extending his term to 2031.
- The compensation measure passed 6–1, with Trustee Mike Balow opposed and Trustee Rema Vassar abstaining.
- Board chair Brianna Scott and Trustee Sandy Pierce will finalize the deal, and trustees said they will seek donor funding rather than use the university’s general fund.
- In the same session, trustees voted 5–3 to tighten their ethics code with penalties such as public censure and loss of leadership roles for members who publicly defy board decisions.
- Trustees said Guskiewicz did not ask for a raise and is being recruited elsewhere, and experts noted the increase is unusually large and would place him among the highest-paid public university leaders.