Vargas contract set right tone for Southeast Missouri State

Carlos Vargas Aburto was given a new, three-year rolling contract to continue as president of Southeast Missouri State University.

The decision came last month by the university's board of regents.

Vargas is in the midst of managing and leading the university through troubled fiscal waters, as state funding has been rolled back. Vargas and his team are making cuts, which include no raises for university employees for the time being.

The regents and Vargas were in tune with this, as the president's new contract did not include an increase in compensation at this time.

According to reporting by The Associated Press, this decision bucked a national trend. The AP reported that an annual survey conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education, presidents' salaries increased overall by 5.3 percent last year, with several topping $1 million.

In 2016, the board of regents set Vargas' salary at $278,000, plus an annual annuity at $30,000.

Board of Regents president Jay Knudtson, in a news release, cited several reasons for giving Vargas an extension. We agree that Vargas has done a good job thus far, and has set a positive example throughout campus.

The contract extension, without a pay increase, sets the right tone and message across the university.