ROCK HILL, S.C. – Winthrop University has given its police chief a 33 percent pay hike to keep him from accepting a job offer from a larger college.
Chief Frank Zebedis has served as the head of Winthrop’s Campus Police Department since 1998. However, when Zebedis considered taking a position at Mississippi State University, Winthrop increased his pay by $27,442, bring Zebedis’ salary to $110,000, The Herald reports.
The university also promoted Zebedis to assistant vice president, making him second-in-command over the college’s student life division.
Zebedis said he applied for the Mississippi State job because it seemed like a good fit opportunity, not because he was actively seeking to leave Winthrop. With more than 20,000 students and 5,000 employees, Mississippi State is nearly three times bigger than Winthrop, which has roughly 6,000 students and 1,300 employees.
The chief maintains that he did not use his Mississippi State offer as leverage to get a promotion or more money. In fact, had he accepted the job, he would have earned more than what he’s now making with the promotion and pay increase at Winthrop.
With the raise, Zebedis is one of the highest paid campus police chief’s in South Carolina, as most law enforcement leaders at South Carolina public colleges make less than $100,000.
