UNL AAUP condemns $1.1 million payout to Chancellor Rodney Bennett

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Following the resignation of Chancellor Rodney Bennett, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln chapter of the American Association of University Professors “strongly” condemns the resignation agreement.

According to the separation agreement approved by the Board of Regents, Chancellor Bennett will receive a lump-sum payment exceeding $1.1 million, in addition to continued salary and benefits through his resignation date.

The UNL AAUP said this payout comes “at the same time the university claims a financial crisis so severe that it must eliminate academic programs and terminate faculty and staff.”

In November, the UNL Faculty Senate voted 60-14 to pass a no-confidence vote in Bennett, citing deep concerns about leadership, transparency, and shared governance.

SEE ALSO: UNL Faculty Senate overwhelmingly passes vote of no confidence against Chancellor Bennett

“The university cannot credibly claim that it lacks the resources to sustain academic programs and faculty positions while simultaneously paying over a million dollars to a failed chancellor,” said Sarah Zuckerman, President of the UNL AAUP. “This payout exposes the administration’s financial crisis narrative as a matter of priorities, not necessity.”

According to the AAUP, UNL faculty and staff have been told for months that cuts to academic programs and personnel are unavoidable.

“This is not just a failure of one chancellor,” said Alexander Vazansky, UNL AAUP Executive Committee member. “It is a systemic failure of leadership at the highest levels — including President Jeffrey Gold and the Board of Regents — who endorsed these decisions, ignored faculty governance, and approved this payout.”

The UNL AAUP is calling for:

• An immediate halt to faculty and staff terminations
• Reconsideration of the elimination of academic programs
• Full transparency regarding university finances, executive compensation and budget decision-making

“The public deserves to know why educators are being fired while executive failures are rewarded,” said AAUP Executive Committee member Crystal Garcia. “Nebraska’s legislators and taxpayers should be asking hard questions about governance, oversight, and whose interests are truly being served.”