The University of Kentucky has an evaluation system to determine the president's bonus that would make many chief executives uncomfortable: Everyone on campus can participate--the faculty, the staff, even the students. Lee T. Todd Jr., president of the University of Kentucky, and James F. Hardymon, former chairman of the university's board, developed the system that is meant to avoid the appearance that it is a foregone conclusion that the president will receive a bonus every year. Kentucky's structure, says those who shaped it, allows for accountability while trying to solve the old problem of remaining competitive in the national market to attract the best executives. About 60 of the 182 public-research universities that "The Chronicle" surveyed gave their presidents bonuses this year, mostly for performance and retention. But the way the amounts are determined is unclear at many institutions. The IRS is thinking of revising the 990 form to require institutions to provide a breakdown of their executive's salary, including any bonus. Public universities are more open about bonuses, but the way they are determined can still be hard to understand. The University of Kentucky created the bonus review to get around state law, which stipulates that no state-university presidents can have a higher base salary than that of the chairman of the Council of Postsecondary Education. (Contains 2 tables.)