Did Liz Magill get a payout when she resigned as Penn’s president?

Calls for Liz Magill’s resignation started in October and came to a fever pitch last week after she and two other Ivy League presidents appeared before a congressional committee on antisemitism.

When she finally stepped down on Saturday, making her the shortest-tenured president in the University of Pennsylvania’s history, it was natural to wonder: Will Magill be paid for her exit?

Penn has declined to release the financial terms of her departure, which is typical for a private university.

And it will be more than a year before any potential financial payout becomes publicly available for Magill. At this point, the salary she was paid for her first year as president in 2022-23 has not even been released.

The most recent tax form available is for fiscal year 2021-22 when Amy Gutmann was still president. But here’s what we do know.

When she became provost and executive vice president of the University of Virginia, a public university, in 2019, her starting salary was $675,000 plus a $100,000 signing bonus, according to the Roanoke Times.

The university hasn’t released her salary for her job that started July 1, 2022. But the first six months of her compensation will be reflected on the next public tax form the university files for the fiscal year that ended in June 2023. That typically becomes available in May or June of the following year.

The university has declined to comment, and that information won’t become publicly available until late spring or early summer of 2025 when the university files its tax form covering 2023.

Magill’s contract entitled her to severance, a source told The Inquirer. But it’s not known how much severance.

According to Brandon Cotton, president of the Washington- and Florida-based Cotton Law, which represents presidents, provosts and chancellors, she likely at the very least was given one year of her base salary, which is typical with resignations.

In addition, “we don’t know if there was compensation in return for a nondisparagement agreement, but I would bet my bottom dollar that there was,” he said.

Magill will remain as a tenured law professor, the university said, when announcing her resignation as president. Cotton said that likely would entitle her to the average salary of the top three professors in the law school.

“That should be on top of the presidential pay” for the first year, he said.

Gutmann, who had been Penn’s president for 18 years, received nearly $23 million in total compensation for 2021. Most of that was deferred compensation accrued during her presidency. It also included a base salary of $1.56 million and a bonus of $1 million. The trustee board’s compensation committee also in late 2020 quietly authorized a $3.7 million, 0.38% interest home loan to Gutmann.

» READ MORE: Former Penn president Amy Gutmann earned nearly $23 million in 2021, but most of it was accrued over her 18 years as president

Former board chair Scott L. Bok said in August that Magill’s compensation package did not include deferred compensation.

“What happened with President Gutmann was really a unique situation,” Bok said at that time. “A brand-new president is going to be treated differently than somebody who is there for a long time. Of course, if things work well, over time, you may add things like deferred compensation.”

Staff writer Joseph N. DiStefano contributed to this article.