A group of female Vassar College professors filed a proposed class action against the school in New York federal court on Wednesday, claiming it underpays women on its faculty, delays their promotions and unfairly evaluates their work.
Wendy Graham, Maria Hohn, Mia Mask, Cindy Schwarz and Debra Zeifman, who are all former or current full professors at Vassar, claim in their lawsuit that the Poughkeepsie, New York, school has known for years that it was underpaying its female professors, but rather than fixing the problem, it worked to conceal it.
In a statement responding to the lawsuit, Vassar board of trustees chair Anthony Friscia said “Vassar believes it pays its faculty fairly and equitably and has complied with the law, and it would like to resolve this issue.”
The lawsuit notes that Vassar was the second school in the country to offer women higher education degrees and holds itself out as a “pioneer for women’s education” dedicated to equality between the sexes. Yet the percentage pay disparity between female and male professors on its faculty has grown since the school year starting in 2003 from 7.6% to 10% in 2021, the lawsuit alleges.
[I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning. ~ Beege]
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