SEMO president's contract extended

The contract of Southeast Missouri State University president Carlos Vargas was extended through June 2023 by the university’s Board of Regents on Monday.

Vargas became Southeast’s president in 2015 following the long tenure of predecessor Ken Dobbins.

The 6-0 vote to extend Vargas’ contract, the university said, is consistent with the terms of the president’s rolling contract approved by regents in 2017.

If actual revenue permits, like other Southeast employees, Vargas will receive a 1% mid-year salary increase in January.

The Southeast president’s salary, according to the university’s director of university communications Ann Hayes, was $280,780 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

Vargas has led Southeast at a time of decreasing state funding and declining enrollment.

Citing COVID-19 and the economic slowdown the pandemic produced, the Missouri General Assembly slashed aid to four-year public universities this spring.

Southeast’s reduction in state aid for the fiscal year beginning July 1 amounts to a 20% cut, or $8.96 million.

The university’s overall enrollment continues to decline from its all-time high of 11,580 in Fall 2014 to 9,546 in Spring 2020, a drop of 17.6% over the span.

Of the 14 presidents of four-year public colleges and universities in Missouri, Vargas’ salary ranks eighth. The highest-paid president is Mun Choi of the University of Missouri system at $530,000 annually. The lowest-paid is Alan Marble of Missouri Southern State at $192,283 per annum.

Vargas is the 10th highest paid president in the Ohio Valley Conference. Belmont’s president, Robert Fisher, tops the OVC list at $1.1 million.