Former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus has decided to take a huge pay cut. The former commander of the allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan will now make $1 to teach a course at City University of New York's honors college.
As you might expect, the concession comes after a bit of controversy stirred by Gawker earlier this month. The gossip site filed a Freedom of Information Act request and found out the general was offered $200,000 a year "to work three hours a week." Here's how Gawker framed the story at the time:
"A first-time adjunct professor teaching a full course load at the City University of New York can expect to pull in around $25,000 per year. If you recently resigned as C.I.A. director over a long-time affair with your biographer, however, you can expect to be paid eight times as much for a fraction of the work."
The New York Times reported Monday that professors and politicians expressed outrage and then Petraeus and the university relented. The paper reports:
"'The general never was taking on this teaching assignment for the money,' said Robert Barnett, his lawyer, who, along with CUNY, confirmed the salary change. 'Once controversy arose about the amount he was being paid, he decided it was much more important to keep the focus on the students, on the school and on the teaching, and not have it be about the money.' So Mr. Petraeus proposed waiving his salary 'to remove money as a point of controversy,' Mr. Barnett said.
"Mr. Petraeus declined to comment."
Petraeus will teach a class called "Are We on the Threshold of the North American Decade."
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