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Westminster College professor trolled for comparing his salary to Panda Express manager’s

Dr Spencer Bagley didn't want to sound like an elitist but the trolls accused him of being one

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: A professor who reportedly teaches at Westminster College in Utah has been slammed online after he compared his salary to the income of a Panda Express manager. Taking to Twitter, Dr Spencer Bagley wrote: “My salary as an associate professor of mathematics at Westminster College, three blocks away from this sign, is $61,500.”

His tweet was accompanied with a photo of an advertisement by Panda Express, the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the US. The ad suggested that the fast-food restaurant company was looking to hire “General Managers” and willing to pay "$69,000/year plus bonus*". The ad also offered job opportunities as “Assistant Managers” with a compensation of "$20 hourly with bonus*" and “Service & Kitchen Team” with a salary of $15 to $19 per hour.

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In his next tweets, Bagley said, “I promise that this tweet is not elitist, but anyway, I'm muting because my mentions are now unusable. Go hug a local educator," before adding, “The point of the tweet is that professors make way less than you think they do. That's all.”

The professor’s tweet did not impress many, as a critic blasted him by tweeting, “61.5k - 69k = 7500.00 less annually What formula, exactly, did you use to come to the conclusion that you're making "way less" than a General Manager at Panda Express (which has great, but somewhat overpriced, food)?”

The second critic said, “The sign also says "Total Potential Annual Compensation or Earnings". Likely the base pay requires certain performance targets being met, and then bonuses paid if higher targets are met. The $69K is not just having to deal with academia's politics.”

“Next time: I’m an Associate Professor of Mathemetics and make $61,500 a year. I know that might sound like a lot but let me tell you what an average day looks like for me… oh and those breaks/holidays… HA I’m still working. (No need for pic),” the third one noted.

A person suggested, “College costs way too much. Students leave college with soul crushing debt. We need to lower the cost of college so we are going to have to cut your pay in half. It’s more fair to the students that way. You can work 2 part time jobs like a lot of people do.” Another person commented, “You underestimate the work that goes into running a 7 day a week/ > 12 hr a day restaurant which relies on entry level workers to show up every day. To have quality, staff, service, cleanliness, etc is tough. Why don’t you try it for a year?”

A criticizing tweet read, “Herein lies the growing disdain for capitalism among the educated. we've overproduced educated-elites w/ propped up ed lending & now they bemoan their low market values in a relatively crowded field/profession they chose. easier to blame a system than accept responsibility.”

“He’s comparing a college professor with many obscure holidays, a two month winter break, spring break and probably 30 hour weeks to a high stress fast paced job that’s likely a minimum of 60 hours a week with no holidays off. What a poor guy,” another tweet added.