Dick Kochanek is one of the most popular professors among business students. So, when the Hartford Courant wrote a story claiming that he is overpaid, students rallied to support Kochanek by making T-shirts with his name and face on them.
The article, which appeared in the Hartford Courant in February, said that Kochanek is "double dipping" because he receives a large pension, since he is retired, on top of getting generous pay for the courses he teaches.
The T-shirts are being sold next week to raise money for the Business School's senior class gift. This is the first year that an individual school is giving its own senior class gift.
The School of Fine Arts is also giving one, according to 8th-semester marketing major Jessica Williams, who designed the T-shirts and is in charge of the sale.
After the article came out, a friend suggested to Williams that she design the T-shirts because having Kochanek as a professor is something most business students have in common, she said.
Kochanek's Introduction to Financial Accounting, Accounting 2001, is a general education requirement for all students in the School of Business.
"It's a two-fold thing," Williams said. "It's a commonality between us as well as support for him."
Kochanek said that what made him upset about the article was that the Hartford Courant did not speak with him.
"We write things about people, but we don't know who they are," Kochanek said.
However, Kochanek has a positive attitude toward the situation.
"I'm at a point in my life where I'm confident in myself," he said. "I can read something about myself and know it's just not true."
Kochanek said that when he was approached about the T-shirt idea, he was happy to help in any way he could.
"It's kind of wonderful that so many people would do this," he said.
Kochanek said he plans on buying T-shirts for himself and for his children.
Erik Muschette, an 8th-semester communications major and member of the senior class gift committee, helped in the creation of the shirts because he wanted to support Kochanek and help make him feel better about the article.
"He's a really fun, cool guy," Muschette said. "It's an article bashing our friend."
Business students had a strong reaction to the article because everyone who has had him thinks he is a great professor, according to Williams.
"All of us have had a professor who really didn't care," she said. "Dick Kochanek really cares about his students.
"When they say he's overpaid, the argument is off-base. Even if he does get paid a lot of money, he's a great professor and everyone loves him."
Kochanek said he does care about his students, and since he is retired, he can devote more of his time to the one course he teaches.
He also pushes his students to do the best they can in his class. He likes to talk about more than just accounting in his classes because he wants to share the things he has learned throughout his life, he said.
"Every day we talk about basic human issues," Kochanek said. "At the end of the semester, I want everyone to be a better person."
Muschette said he expects T-shirt sales to be high because the committee has gotten a lot of positive feedback from students. Muschette said the Facebook group for the shirts had 100 members in its first three days.
The shirts will be on sale for $10 each in the School of Business next Monday through Thursday, Williams said.
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