Blog

Aug 27, 2023

Vassar College accused of underpaying, discriminating against female professors

REUTERS/Yara Nardi Acquire Licensing Rights Aug 30 (Reuters) - A group of female Vassar College professors filed a proposed class action against the school in New York federal court on Wednesday,

REUTERS/Yara Nardi Acquire Licensing Rights

Aug 30 (Reuters) - 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.

The disparities were visible in compensation data the school shared with professors and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and professors and staff pushed the school to address the inequalities, the lawsuit claims. But those efforts went nowhere, and in recent years Vassar has stopped sharing information about professor pay with its faculty, the lawsuit alleges.

Kelly Dermody of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, who is one of the attorneys representing the professors, called the disparities at Vassar “embarrassing and shameful.”

“If it happened at Vassar it could happen anywhere,” Dermody told Reuters.

The lawsuit also claims that the evaluation system Vassar uses consistently results in female faculty receiving lower ratings than men, and pay increases and promotions are tied to the evaluations.

The professors are suing on behalf of women employed at Vassar as full professors since May 2015. They bring claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and New York state labor and human rights laws.

The lawsuit seeks lost wages, damages and an injunction barring the school from underpaying women professors.

The case is Wendy Graham v. Vassar College, case no. 23-cv-7692 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

For the plaintiffs: Rachel Geman, Kelly Dermody, Anne Shaver and Michelle Lamy of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein

For Vassar College: Seyfarth Shaw

Reporting by Diana Jones; editing by Leigh Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.