U-M interim President Mary Sue Coleman to be paid same salary as Mark Schlissel

The University of Michigan will pay Mary Sue Coleman the same amount to be the school's interim president as it was paying Mark Schlissel, who was fired from his role as president.

That's $927,000 a year, according to a copy of the contract obtained by the Free Press under an open records request.

The contract was signed Feb. 9, but covers from when she started as interim president on Jan. 15.

Coleman is replacing Schlissel, who was fired on Jan. 15 by the university's Board of Regents for having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate employee. Schlissel remains a faculty member at the school.

Coleman was president at U-M directly prior to Schlissel. During her last year as president in 2014, she made $603,357 in base salary, $200,000 in bonus pay and $234,000 in deferred pay and retirement pay.

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Her new contract calls for her to serve as interim president for six months or until a new full-time president is named, whichever comes first. When a new president is named, Coleman will stick around for two months as a special adviser to the university to help with the transition. She will then revert back to her president emerita status, complete with the office, part-time assistant and on-campus parking she already receives.

Coleman does not have to live in the on-campus president's house. She can stay in her private Ann Arbor house, with the university paying her a $1,000-a-month housing allowance. The contract also calls for the university to send housekeepers to Coleman's private residence to "afford the President the full opportunity to carry out official University duties."

She also gets a car and a driver, who also provides security.

Unlike Schlissel, the contract does not give Coleman a separate appointment as a tenured faculty member.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj. Subscribe to the Detroit Free Press.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mary Sue Coleman could be paid same salary as U-M predecessor