USC won’t divulge Petraeus’ salary for teaching position

USC is not revealing how much it is paying David H. Petraeus, the former four-star U.S. Army general and Central Intelligence Agency chief, for the part-time position he is starting this fall as a lecturer and as a mentor to students who are veterans.

As a private institution, USC is not required to publicly list such salaries.

But the situation is different at the City University of New York, a public school that also is hiring Petraeus for part-time teaching duties over the same period. There, Petraeus will be paid $150,000 a year for teaching one course in the fall and one in the spring at CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College in Manhattan, CUNY spokesman Michael Arena said Monday.

Arena emphasized that all of that pay will be coming from private donations, not tax funds, and that Petraeus plans to donate a portion to veterans-related charities.

Petraeus, who commanded coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, resigned from the top CIA position last year after confessing to and apologizing for an extramarital affair with his biographer. After a period of withdrawal from the public realm, he has been active more recently, including accepting the USC and CUNY positions.

Details of Petraeus’ salary in New York were first published on the Gawker website, which originally cited a letter offering the former general $200,000. The website then issued a correction, showing an official letter that specified that the salary will be $150,000. In an interview with The Times, Arena confirmed the $150,000 figure and said the document is genuine.

A spokesperson for Petraeus declined to comment.

USC spokesman Carl Marziali said Monday the university does not release salary figures except for those paid to top administrators, as required of nonprofit institutions by the federal government.

In May, USC announced that Petraeus will teach and participate in seminars on such issues as international relations, government, leadership, information technology and energy.

Petraeus, who earned his bachelor’s degree at West Point and has a doctorate from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, has written extensively on international relations and national security.

His affair was uncovered by the FBI, which was investigating a case of harassing emails sent to a friend of his family and of other officers based in the Tampa, Fla., area.

ALSO:

30 L.A. firefighters lost in 1933 in Griffith Park blaze

Mayor talks business with local chambers but skips the big groups

Two women drown after being swept out by high surf near Santa Cruz

larry.gordon@latimes.com

Twitter: @larrygordonlat