Campus payrolls defy recession

Despite recession-era budget cuts, Colorado’s top university officials awarded themselves handsome salary increases and went on a hiring spree

As Colorado staggered under the weight of the great recession, the state’s major research universities were dramatically boosting salaries and adding thousands of employees to payrolls.

At the same time, the schools told state lawmakers they were barely able to make ends meet because of state budget cuts.

During the decade from 2004 to 2014, top academic administrators saw their paychecks rise as much as 100 percent, while average salaries rose 24 percent for…