UTT elite making $$millions while citizens struggle to survive

While the average citizen in Trinidad and Tobago is struggling to buy food and tens of thousands are living below the poverty line, the head of the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), Prof. Ken Julien, is making in one month what most people earn in two or three years.

The Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, Stanford Callender made the disclosure in Parliament Friday in response to an opposition question.

He said there is no Pro-Vice Chancellor or Principal of UTT, so Julien serves as head of the professorship and chairman of the Academic Council, earning between $40,000 and $50,000 a month.

He also receives a housing allowance of 20 per cent of the basic salary, a travelling allowance of $10,000 or a vehicle maintained by the university and a cell phone with unlimited billing.

The elite group at the UTT includes:

• Full-time professors - $32,000 to $45,000
• Associate professors - $25,000 to $40,000
• Assistant professors - $22,000 to $34,000
• Senior instructors - $18,000 to $26,000
• Instructors - $15,000 to $18,000

Callendar said some professors receive housing allowances of 20 per cent, travelling allowances of $10,000 and $690 for cell phones.

"They making more money than you," Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh told Prime Minister Patrick Manning and suggested Manning should resign and get a job at the university.