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Several trustees said the discussions are “confidential.�

Chancellor Beth Stroble and President Julian Schuster now earn more than double than what they made in total compensation a decade ago, making them some of the highest paid university leaders in the metro area — even as Webster lost more than $128 million over the past decade, including $25 million in each of the past two reported years.

Last week, Stroble referred questions about her pay to the board of trustees, which has fiduciary oversight of the university.

But all 17 independent board members either declined comment or didn’t respond to requests for an interview.

This week, three of the trustees referred questions to the board chair, Sumit Verma.

Two of those trustees, vice chairs Jovita Foster, chief legal officer for Drury Hotels, and Susan Gay Burns, the retired chief human resources officer for Reinsurance Group of America, said they couldn’t comment on “any confidential matters concerning Webster University, including employee compensation information.�

Verma, who is senior vice president of Iovance Biotherapeutics, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Webster University has not turned a profit since 2013 and has seen student enrollment halved. Newly released financial disclosures show that Webster’s financial and enrollment losses are the worst of comparable private colleges in the metro area. This month, the owner of Webster’s downtown St. Louis campus sued the university in federal court over allegations it had not paid rent for most of the year.

But despite those problems, Webster’s board of trustees continued to approve annual raises for all but one year — in the 2018-2019 school year, when both leaders saw a 9% drop.

In 2019, total compensation for Stroble and Schuster each rose by more than a third, when Stroble was promoted to chancellor, earning $799,000, and Schuster to president, earning $578,000. Enrollment that fall dropped 8% to 12,179 students over the previous year.

In the 2021-22 school year, Stroble and Schuster received $992,000 and $858,000 — a 5% and 18% year-over-year increase, according to the latest available data.

Only the chancellor of Washington University, who made $1.6 million, and the president of Maryville University, who made $1.7 million, earned more money that year.

Meanwhile, several current and former Webster employees who spoke to the Post-Dispatch for a previous story had described the atmosphere at the college as one with declining morale and a culture of blame.

Comments from the board’s vice chairs, Foster and Burns, on Wednesday were the first responses to the Post-Dispatch from trustees.