Data released by the Chronicle of Higher Education today shows the president of Northwestern University, the only private university in the Big Ten, apparently took a cut in pay between the two most recent Chronicle reports.

In October, the Daily reported the current salaries of presidents in the Big Ten and how they have changed in light of the nationwide economic crisis. Because Northwestern is not a public institution and therefore is not required to release data, information was not available in time for publication.

According to the Chronicle, Northwestern’s President Henry Bienen’s base salary in the 2007-08 academic year was $903,760. That is a $438,835 decrease from his reported 2006-07 base salary of $1,342,595.

This follows the Big Ten pattern of no pay increases to executive administrators. In fact, most executives at Big Ten schools froze their pay at 2006-07 levels with the exception of top administrators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who actually experienced 3 percent pay reductions due to state-imposed furloughs. That exception now includes Bienen.

The Chronicle releases executive compensation data for private and public institutions each year, the public college survey will be put out in January.