Will someone explain to me how you get $1.8mm in severance pay for doing nothing?

From the New York Times: "Boston University's trustees and Daniel S. Goldin, the former NASA chief they had chosen to be the university's next president, parted ways today, with Mr. Goldin receiving what amounted to a reported $1.8 million severance payment for a job he was one day away from beginning."

Remind me not to send my kids to the Boston U. Business School.

Howard