Syracuse University is spending $1.8 million to help close the salary gap between men and women faculty. In the past, SU administrators said that money would come from Invest Syracuse, a $100 million initiative to provide scholarships and improve the academic and student experiences at the university.

In December 2017, SU released a report showing that women faculty at SU generally earn less than their men counterparts. It also showed that faculty members at the university’s peer institutions typically earn more money than faculty at SU.

The report found that the gap was the widest among non-tenure-track faculty,. Women professors in the non-tenure-track made 77 cents on the dollar, according to the report. It also found that the gap was university-wide and statistically and economically significant.  

The report also found that the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the School of Education had the largest pay gaps between men and women faculty members.

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The $1.8 million in funds to address the pay gap were distributed between more than 200 women faculty members, Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly said during a University Senate meeting in September.

“I can assure you that all incidences of statistical significance in pay disparity have been eliminated,” she added.

During that same meeting, Dana Cloud, a professor of communication and rhetorical studies, said she believed the pay gap still existed partly because college deans didn’t distribute the funds properly. Another professor recommended an annual equal pay review.

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Falk College Dean Diane Lyden Murphy said that after fighting to close the pay gap for four decades, she was finally able pay women faculty members equal to their men counterparts.

Last April, hundreds of women faculty members bought an advertisement in The Daily Orange criticizing the university’s handling of the pay gap.

The group said they were concerned that school deans were responsible for allocating the funds. They also said they wanted the university to be more transparent about the process of correcting the pay discrepancy.

The faculty report stated that the deans of SU’s individual colleges would work with the provost’s office to review faculty salaries and correct any pay disparities between men and women.

Published on October 14, 2018 at 10:29 pm