Executive Compensation

In this NPR interview, it has become clear that it's not only CEOs who make the "big bucks." Some of the reasons historically given for the continuously rising trend of executive compensation don't apply very neatly to college presidents--such as performance pay, percentage of profits, and even firm size. Colleges don't experience billions in revenue every year. What justification is there to pay a college president in excess of $1 million annually? What would university presidents in say, 1900 say?