Earlier this month, the Boston Globe reported that President Robert Caret will be awarded a sabbatical of up to a year with full salary when his term ends in five years.

This presidential perk is similar to one received by former UMass President Jack Wilson. Caret was appointed as the president of UMass on Jan. 13, 2011, taking office five months later, in July.

For the 2012 fiscal year, Caret will make $425,000, according to the Massachusetts Open Checkbook, a state website that details state spending and payroll information. Additionally, Caret receives “annual performance bonuses of up to 15 percent of his salary,” including $60,000 annually for his Boston area home, $63,750 annually in retirement annuities and “$250,000 in deferred compensation over the next three years” reported the Boston Globe last week.

“If Caret joins the UMass faculty after his presidency, he will make at least three-fourths of his presidential salary in his first year as a professor and at least half after that. If Caret is fired without cause, he would be entitled to the remainder of his salary under his employment pact, the right to become a full-time faculty member at UMass Lowell at a reduced salary and to take any sabbatical he has earned,” according to the Globe.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the average salary of a full professor at UMass is $118,600 per year. If, as the Globe reported, Caret were to receive half his $425,000 presidential salary as a professor, he would be earning over 179 percent of the average professor’s salary – not counting bonuses, housing funds, and other perks.

When asked for comment, the secretary of the Board of Trustees said the board was not available for comment by phone, only by written letter. James Karam, the chairman of the board, defended the decision in the Globe.

“We have reviewed these matters in depth and are confident that the compensation provided to our top administrative leaders is in the mainstream and is directly comparable to the compensation received by administrators at other major public universities across the nation,” said Karam.

In addition, Karam also told the Globe that offering Caret a sabbatical at full salary was a way of finding “skillful, creative leaders.”

The Massachusetts Daily Collegian was unable to reach Caret or a spokesperson from his office for comment.

In a phone interview with the Globe, Caret agreed with Karam and said that the sabbatical is justified because it helps generate good leadership, because “leaders and their teams generate hundreds of millions of critical non-state dollars.”

Caret also addressed the controversy surrounding this award in his interview with the Globe.

“Given the facts, reasonable people understand that sabbaticals are earned as part of a compensation package … They are not a gift,” said Karam.

“I understand the concerns, but the alternative is worse – mediocre leadership that will not provide the institutions we need and desire … Do I have a sensitivity about this issue? Yes. Apologies? No,” said Caret to the Globe.

Caret told the Globe that his former positions at “Towson University in Maryland and San Jose State University in California also offered him this perk,” according to the Globe.

According to the Globe, UMass justified the decision to award sabbaticals to administrators, citing a report commissioned by a private compensation consultant that found that UMass’ practice of offering its presidents and chancellors sabbaticals was in line with 16 other universities included in the report which had comparable enrollment, total operating costs and total assets.

A study by the Globe of 30 major universities and systems to which UMass compares itself showed that among these schools, offering chancellors and presidents a paid sabbatical at the end of their term was not a common occurrence.

The Globe reported that only two universities said that they offered departing presidents a sabbatical of a year or more at full administrative salary. From the list of UMass’ peer universities, 20 schools said that they did not offer departing presidents the perk.

Lauren Crigler, a junior in the plant and soil science department, said that she was concerned about the amount of money that Caret was paid and that he would have a full salary for a yearlong sabbatical.

“To say it’s unfair is putting it mildly,” said Crigler. “I don’t know how much presidents make, but I think that it’s kind of infuriating to pay someone to take a sabbatical on his last year in office. That just seems really irresponsible.”

The UMass Board of Trustees’ decision to award Caret with this expensive perk was seven months following the Board’s decision to implement a 7.5 percent fee increase for UMass students in June.

Erika Walsh, a sophomore anthropology major, said she wasn’t sure how she felt about Caret being awarded the sabbatical, because it is unclear what Caret would spend that year doing.

“It depends on what exactly he’s doing and how good at his job he is,” said Walsh. “But it does seem unfair, but also that’s how the world works and this is a public institution,” she said.

Sarah Hardy can be reached at [email protected].