CUSHY DEALS AT UNIVERSITIES RAISE EYEBROWS

The recent flurry over special contracts with former university officials -- mainly a three-year, $621,000 contract with former Central Missouri State University president Ed Elliott -- prompted action from the Missouri Senate, which wants to require future college contracts be applied "uniformly, consistently and fairly" to all.

The Senate is right to be concerned. It's not the universities footing the bill. It's the taxpayers.

Elliott's three-year contract was seen as a pretty sweet deal for a retiring university president. Golden parachutes generally are reserved for top corporate executives who are squeezed out in takeovers. Elliott's contract was a generous reward for a job well done.

But $621,000? That certainly gives higher education a black eye for excess. State Sen. Wayne Goode, D-Normandy, summed up the Elliott contract simply: "Nauseating." The contract includes one-year of paid leave, a gift of office equipment for the former president and his wife and a salary for Elliott's wife.

This Senate has put institutions of higher learning -- and others in state government -- on notice that these contracts are unacceptable.

State Auditor Claire McCaskill recently took issue of the Elliott contract and, to a lesser extent, the contracts of former University of Missouri basketball coach Norm Stewart and Chancellor Dale Nitzschke at Southeast Missouri State University. Nitzschke, at least, is expected to raise millions of dollars for the River Campus.

University boards that make such deals should be aware that future contracts will come under increased scrutiny. That's the way it should be. Those boards should remember who appropriates their operating funds.