Rosenberg could return to classroom after resigning as FIU president. His pay? $377K

Despite his abrupt resignation as president of Florida International University under the cloud of a misconduct allegation, Mark Rosenberg could eventually be back on campus and teaching classes for a $377,000 paycheck.

Rosenberg forfeited his half-a-million-dollar salary as well as bonus and pension supplements when he stepped down Friday, but a close look at his contract revealed that he retained his job as a tenured faculty member.

Rosenberg, 72, who is under investigation for making unwanted advances to a young woman who worked closely with him, resigned after 12 years as leader of the state’s second-largest university rather than face a possible firing by FIU’s Board of Trustees. Dean Colson, a prominent Miami attorney and board chair, told him his presidency “could not go forward,” according to a source close to the investigation.

In his Jan. 21 resignation letter to Colson, Rosenberg, 72, said he intends to “return to my first professional love as a member of the faculty” and “resume my research and teaching on inter-American affairs and higher education.”

According to his contract, a resignation does not prevent him from keeping his tenured professorship, regarded as a well-protected position at all American universities. Rosenberg has not said what he will do but the outcome of FIU’s investigation could upend any plan to return to the faculty, said a person familiar with the case.

Should the investigation turn up anything ‘‘egregious,’’ the source said, FIU could pursue a revocation of Rosenberg’s tenure, which is extremely rare in academia and requires a formal proceeding. Based on the information divulged so far, that seems unlikely, the source added.

FIU hires law firm to investigate

In December, FIU hired an outside law firm to lead the investigation, which is still pending. Last week, the young woman, in her 20s, met with a lawyer from the firm. She recounted at least three instances since October 2021 where Rosenberg repeatedly told her in private conversations that he loved her, wanted to be with her and would take care of her.

In each instance, the woman said she rejected Rosenberg’s overtures, saying they made her feel uncomfortable. Rosenberg apologized profusely and said it wouldn’t happen again but then continued making unwanted advances to her, she told the lawyer in an interview last Wednesday, with her lawyer present, according to the source.

That interview triggered the demand for Rosenberg to resign; late Friday afternoon, Colson announced Rosenberg’s abrupt resignation in a terse three-paragraph statement to the FIU community. In the same statement, Colson announced that Kenneth Jessell, 66, FIU’s chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance and administration since 2009, would serve as interim president.

The Herald has chosen not to identify the woman. As a policy, the Herald does not identify victims of such alleged harassment.

On Sunday, Rosenberg issued a statement saying he had “caused discomfort for a valued colleague,” acknowledging, “I unintentionally created emotional [not physical] entanglement” with that FIU employee.

In the same statement, Rosenberg said, “I have apologized. I apologize to you. I take full responsibility and regret my actions.”

Forfeiting more than $1 million

Rosenberg was on an annual contract that paid him $502,578.63 as FIU president; the contract had been extended to August 2023. His resignation means he loses about 18 months’ worth of his salary. He also foregoes his annual performance bonus of $150,000 for 2022 and 2023, his annual pension supplement of $85,000, his car allowance and his residence at the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential House on the Modesto A. Maidique campus off Southwest Eighth Street.

Left on the table: More than $1 million.

He retains his one-year research sabbatical at full salary. That leave would have begun when his term ended; instead, it starts now.

Following the one-year leave, Rosenberg would be eligible to resume his tenured professorship for three years at 75 percent of his full salary, or $376,933.50. According to Salary.com, the average salary of a tenured professor in the U.S. was $89,948 at the end of 2021.

Rosenberg also retains his president emeritus title because he earned it and was an employee in good standing when he resigned, according to his contract.

“Dr. Rosenberg forfeited a lot by resigning,” said Matthew Sarelson, a Miami attorney who specializes in labor law. “But forced resignations often make the most sense because the optics are always better than involuntary termination, the employee saves face and apologizes, the employer does not have to air dirty laundry and everybody avoids prolonged litigation and a public fight that could harm the victim.”

Rosenberg began his career with FIU as an assistant professor of political science in 1976, four years after the university opened on a former airfield off Southwest Eighth Street and 107th Avenue. He was FIU’s fifth president in its 50-year history and the first to ascend to that post from a faculty position.

Rosenberg’s attorney did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment from the Herald.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Dean Colson, chairman of FIU’s Board of Trustees, was in the meeting with the woman and the lawyer hired by FIU to investigate the woman’s allegations. He was not present.

This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 9:35 PM.