Many letters to the editor have complained in one form or another about a lack of transparency at Syracuse University. This lack of transparency extends to faculty pay. For almost 50 years, Syracuse University provided detailed data on faculty salaries to compile a local “Committee Z Report,” a critical source of information for current and prospective faculty. The report compares salaries across colleges and departments, and breaks down average salary by gender and rank, among other factors. Faculty use this information to help predict future salaries, to compare their salaries to those in other departments, colleges, and universities, and to expose unfairness.

Salary transparency has a number of known benefits. Many experts claim that transparency can help to enforce pay equity. When salaries are transparent, faculty can learn more about how compensation levels are set, discover patterns of bias, and can argue for greater pay equity when warranted. Transparency can also foster a sense of trust, can help reduce turnover, and may motivate employees. Conversely, secrecy around salaries encourages concerns about unfairness, discrimination, and favoritism.

Kent Syverud did not release faculty salary data to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in 2014, but promised to revisit his decision in the face of faculty objections. In 2015, Syracuse University provided general salary information to the AAUP but did not release detailed data that the Syracuse University Chapter of the AAUP relies on to write the local Z Report. I have spent the last year trying to find out whether and when the Chancellor’s office will release the necessary data, but to no avail. My latest correspondence has been with Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, LaVonda Reed, who provided only a vague assurance that there are “ongoing discussions” about the issue.

I urge the administration to release the necessary data so that the Syracuse University Chapter of the AAUP can write a Z Report for the 2016-2017 academic year.

Sincerely,

Sarah Pralle

Associate Professor of Political Science

Syracuse University

Published on October 5, 2016 at 9:35 pm