Ex-CIA Boss Gen. David Petraeus Lands $150,000 Gig at CUNY to Work Just 3 Hours a Week
Former CIA director, Gen. David Petraeus, who resigned from his post last November over a scandalous affair with his biographer, has reportedly landed a $150,000 gig with the City University of New York (CUNY) to work just three hours a week.
Citing evidence obtained from documents acquired from CUNY through a Freedom of Information Law request, popular New York City-based blog Gawker, revealed that CUNY announced in April that Petraeus would be serving as a visiting professor of public policy at the University's Macaulay Honors College for an initial price tag of $200,000 annually.
The offer price was later adjusted down to $150,000 according to a CUNY spokesperson.
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"We are prepared to offer you a salary of $200,000 per annum, supplemented by funds from a private gift. While I do not yet have a commitment for such a gift, Sid Goodfriend and I agreed that, working together, we can make it a reality," outgoing CUNY chancellor Matthew Goldstein reportedly wrote Petraeus on February 22.
"... We could offer you graduate student support to assist you with grading papers, administering exams, conducting research, etc. We could also provide limited additional funds for travel to professional meetings as a representative of CUNY," he added.
The offer to Petraeus is said to be significantly more than the approximately $25,000 a year normally offered to first-time adjunct professors teaching a full course load at CUNY.
According to the report, however, Petraeus' hefty price tag was justified by the demand for the services of the West Point and Princeton graduate shortly after his affair became public knowledge.
"The truth is that I could have had gotten more money or more prestigious places (you won't believe what USC will pay per week), but Matt and you convinced me that this was the principal place to teach," Petraeus reportedly noted in an email to CUNY dean Ann Kirschner.
CUNY spokesman Michael Arena shared a recent offer emailed to Petraeus on Monday, however, reflecting a downward $50,000 adjustment to the initial offer he says was "inaccurate."
"As Bob Barnett has requested, I am memorializing our discussions over the past few months regarding your appointment as Visiting Professor at Macaulay Honors College at $150,000," Dean Kirschner reportedly noted in the latest email correspondence.
"Knowing that you have been sought after by other institutions, some of them offering higher salaries, I am particularly grateful that you have agreed to a lower compensation than we originally offered. Chancellor Matthew Goldstein has provided private funding for your position, which will be paid through the CUNY Research Foundation. I am also deeply touched by your decision to donate some of this funding to veterans' organizations," she added.
