Kean University president’s contract extended by 5 years

By Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger

UNION — Kean University’s board of trustees voted unanimously tonight to extend President Dawood Farahi’s employment contract by five years, ignoring faculty calls for new leadership on the troubled campus.
Farahi, 63, will remain in office through 2018 at his current $293,550-a-year salary, according to a deal approved by the trustees. He also remains eligible for an additional $200,000 retention bonus payable when his current contract expires on July 1, 2013.

The vote of confidence for the embattled president comes as Kean awaits word on whether its accreditation will be renewed. The 16,000-student public university was placed on probation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, its accrediting agency, in July for failing to meet several key standards.
Many on the Union Township campus called for the president to step down during the accreditation crisis, including the faculty senate, which issued a “no confidence” vote in Farahi’s leadership over the summer.

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