After being put on hold for a few months, a top Western administrator got word this week that a pay raise was coming his way.

At Wednesday’s Board of Regents meeting, the board approved a pay raise for Dean Kahler, vice president for Enrollment Management. The regents also approved an amended contract for Athletics Director Wood Selig.

Decisions about pay raises for Kahler and Selig were postponed at the board’s October meeting. At that meeting, Kahler’s raise was proposed at about $19,000, and Selig’s was about $34,000.

On Wednesday, Kahler’s approved raise was about $9,200. After the raise was postponed in October, administrators decided to phase in Kahler’s raise and ask the board for half of it in January and the other half at a later date — likely July — said Deborah Wilkins, chief of staff and general counsel.

Before the board voted, Faculty Regent Patricia Minter urged regents to vote against Kahler’s raise.

The board voted 8-3 in favor of Kahler’s raise. Minter, Staff Regent James Kennedy and Student Regent Kevin Smiley voted against the raise.

Minter said the faculty and staff have made their position very clear, and their opinion hasn’t changed.

“Today’s vote was a slap in the face to them,” Minter said Wednesday. “I think the board has sent a very bad message.”

Smiley said he was disappointed with how it turned out, but he thinks his vote was cast in the right way.

“Money is tight, and I expect Western to be reasonable about how it’s spent,” he said.

Smiley said he thought Minter made good points about morale being down, and that because he, Minter and Kennedy were elected by the campus community, they were in a better place to understand that.

“We’re a little bit more in sync with what’s going on day to day,” Smiley said.

Kahler declined to comment.

The contract approved for Selig at Wednesday’s meeting didn’t include a raise as it did in October.

But Selig will still get a raise of about $34,000 through private donations made to the WKU Foundation that are designated for athletics. The foundation approved the action in December.

Selig said he was grateful for the support that Ransdell and the board have given him throughout his tenure.

“It’s unfortunate that there was such controversy, but I understand how universities operate and don’t take any of it personally,” Selig said.

The board also approved a contract for new football Head Coach Willie Taggart. It pays him $225,000 annually for four years with an option for a fifth.