Overview

• Trustees voted 34-1 to approve the package, with board member Anthony Lubrano casting the lone no vote.
• Bendapudi’s total 2025-26 compensation rises to about $2.8 million, including a $1.4 million base with 3.5% annual increases, retention payments in June 2027 and June 2032, increased deferred compensation starting July 1, and a performance incentive up to 15% of base pay.
• The board also agreed to seek roughly $49 million more in state funding next year to avert undergraduate tuition increases across the system.
• A consultant told trustees the change moves Bendapudi’s pay near the 80th percentile of peers, a shift the board said reflects the current market for public university leaders.
• A committee advanced the plan after a purportedly private session was briefly audible on a livestream, as faculty criticism over campus closures, governance and unionization efforts continues.