The New College faculty is still less well off than those at several other colleges; the "bloody disgrace" was that, until a year ago, we paid world-class scholars in their thirties £10,000 a year less than graduating students were starting on as trainees in law, accountancy and management consultancy; the £35,000 we now pay is still £20,000 a year less than investment banks offer our smartest 22-year-olds.
In any event, £10,000 a year pales into insignificance compared with the effects of inheriting (or not) a substantial house, paying (or not) for the care of elderly parents, having (or not) a high-earning spouse - not to mention your success (or not) in persuading your vice-chancellor that retaining you requires another £30,000 or £40,000 a year.
This is a silly season story, but behind it is the serious one of the delusion that we can have Ivy League universities on primary school salaries.
Alan Ryan
New College, Oxford
The bishop founded the college to provide a university education for "poor and indigent scholars". Would he, I wonder, have approved of part of his endowment being spent on the bonuses of selected dons?
It would also be interesting to know whether the college has consulted the present Bishop of Winchester, who is its Visitor and whose diocese is currently struggling to afford the stipends, pensions and housing costs of its clergy.
Peter Clarke
Wonston, Winchester
Click for the preceding Sunday Times report. Also see: Times Higher, Daily Telegraph, Oxford Student and Cherwell versions of the same story. King Gnome explains: Who runs may read.
Land in the flood plain: New's New Orleans? QUIETLY FLOWS THE DONWEE.
Click for New College Statutes, Statute XVII Disposal of Revenue or Clause 12 Misuse of Windfalls or II.17/15 Removal ('Deprivation') of Warden. Also New College Accounts 2001/2 (html) and 2002/3 (pdf) and Fellows list (OU Calendar entry, 2005/6). The Visitor.