There are rational reasons why top managers receive good compensation in bad times -- the toughest decisions they have to make often are during the toughest economic times.

But there is an opposite lesson that such state and local academic institutions as the Kern Community College District and the California State University system do not seem to grasp.

When private or public executives are not hurt, but their employees and citizens they serve suffer economically, there is a whiff of a "let them eat cake" superiority. Whether or not the "whiff" is real or imagined, the result is the creation of a gap between the institution and its community. Whether "community" is defined as taxpayers, students or employees, the separation can affect the institution's effectiveness and quality.

That is a long-term impact that is difficult to quantify. The immediate impacts on classified employees and faculty who were being laid off or were downgraded in employment status are real and personal: loss of income, loss of health care benefits, possible downgrading of housing status, educational opportunity and the like.

Already underpaid part-time and adjunct faculty have long suffered.

In the case of the community college district, the contracts of Bakersfield College, Porterville College and Cerro Coso Presidents Sandra Serrano, Bill Andrews and Sharon Dyer expired this year. Rather than renew these contracts for the customary one-year term, trustees awarded unusual two-year contracts. The presidents were bestowed a sense of personal and job security denied their employees. Dyer also received a raise.

Were the contract extensions and raises earned?

Probably. But so were the continued services of employees who were laid off. Also deserved were the expectations of hardworking students who now face more difficulty and cost in completing their educations.

In the case of the CSU system, presidents received raises and allowance increases at a time students are being denied admission during the spring quarter and face fee hikes that have no rational relationship to inflation or to improved institutional quality.

In all these cases, the rationale is the same and has some validity. As KCCD Board President John Rogers put it, the contract extensions and raise were an attempt by the board to show their vitally needed executives that they are valued in a competitive job market. That is essentially the same reason given by UC and CSU trustees and often is given by corporate directors to private sector executives.

But there are other, better ways to do it -- saying it outright might help; merit bonuses paid when times improve; more flexibility in other aspects of their duties and the like. The need for cuts is unfortunate and real. That is not in dispute. But when everyone else has to give, top managers ought to at least hold the line on their economic status, if not give up a little.

Beyond the immediate problem of what this disconnect does to quality and morale is the lesson this teaches students, our next generation of public and private sector leaders: Grab what you can when you can, and don't worry about anyone else.

That is too high a price to pay for a temporary situation.