File this under something you rarely hear. The interim president at Kentucky State University decided to forgo $90,000 of his $350,000 a year salary to the lowest paid workers on campus. This according to the Lexington herald- Leader.

His name is Raymond Burse. People working at the university and around campus might remember Burse. He was previously the president of Kentucky State university in the 1980s, so he is very familiar with the people can community.

Once Burse left the university, he eventually became the senior executive at General Electric and did pretty well for himself. He recently retired from the position in 2012 and claims this is not a publicity stunt.

According to the Herald-Leader, he said, “You don’t give up $90,000 for publicity. I did this for the people.”

Many tend to agree with Burse, this isn’t a publicity stunt. He genuinely believes this is the right thing to do. It is a fact, the lowest paid, minimum wage workers on the campus make $7.25 per hour. This is the federal minimum wage. But thanks to Burse, they will be able to add an additional $3 an hour to their wages taking them to $10.25 an hour.

Might sound like peanuts to you, but the fact remains this will make a difference in the lives of the people he needs to manage and lead on a day to day basis. Burse believes the people at the bottom of the economic ladder needs a chance to be successful financial to raise a good family and this is a step in the right direction.

President Obama and the Kentucky state legislature attempted to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, but the bill was defeated at the state and nationwide level. The great news here is once Burse is replaced with a permanent President for the university, the minimum wage increase will stay in place for the people.

This is a step in the right direction and many around the country are hoping the trend will catch on to give the people working the lowest levels of our economic scale a fair chance at a living wage.