The University of Alaska Board of Regents voted 9-1 Monday to rescind the offer of a $320,000 bonus for UA President Pat Gamble at his request.
Meeting in Anchorage, the regents took up the bonus after weeks of controversy that included defenders as well as critics of Gamble's performance debating the merits of what the regents had dubbed a "retention incentive."
The bonus, which would have been payable to Gamble in 2016 at the end of his three-year contract, had become a political controversy in the past few months, coming as it did in a time of budget cuts and program reductions at the university.
Regent Fuller Cowell voted against overturning the bonus plan, while Regent Gloria O'Neill was absent.
Gamble said last week that he would ask the regents to revisit the matter. He said the issue had proven a distraction that was harming the university and he wanted to put it aside.
The board held a special meeting in Anchorage on Monday to deal with various financial matters, and Gamble asked that the bonus be placed on the agenda.
"I very much appreciate the board's support, but this issue will remain the elephant in the room every time we meet with faculty, staff, a donor or a legislator," Gamble said last week. "The decision ultimately is up to the board, but the timing isn't right and I think the board is very sensitive to that now."