Last year, the City University of New York hired Princeton professor and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman to study income inequality and other economic topics at the Luxembourg Income Study Center. The financially beleaguered university system, which is publicly funded, somehow found a way to pay Krugman $225,000 per year.

According to a preliminary agenda for the next meeting of CUNY’s Board of Trustees—scheduled for tonight—the board intends to confirm Krugman’s salary (and his title of “Distinguished Professor”)*:

According to a person with knowledge of CUNY board meetings, it is fairly rare for trustees to reject any item on the draft agenda. Let us be the first, then, to congratulate Krugman on this wonderful news.

* Correction: This post originally stated that CUNY was planning to give Krugman a raise, based on the text of the preliminary agenda, which stated that Krugman would be receiving “compensation of $28,594 per annum in addition to their regular academic salary.” But a spokesperson for CUNY tells Gawker that this is not the case:

Paul Krugman is NOT receiving a pay raise. He is being appointed as a Distinguished Professor and his salary of $225,000 was always inclusive of the $28,594.

We’ve updated the post and headline to reflect this clarification. We’ve also asked CUNY if other professors have had similar salary arrangements.

Photo credit: Getty Images