The Washington Post, August 30, 2023, Female Professors Sue Vassar College, Alleging Wage Discrimination
Five female professors at Vassar College are suing the elite institution in Upstate New York — one of the country’s first colleges to educate women — alleging it engaged in decades of systemic wage discrimination by paying them less than their male colleagues.
The case explores what advocates for pay equity say are widespread disparities in how women are compensated and evaluated for their work in higher education. Through self-reported data, colleges and universities have routinely shown yawning pay gaps between male and female academics. Now, institutions are reckoning with the inequities amid legal action and faculty campaigns for fair wages.
The five professors who are suing — women whose academic fields span the sciences and liberal arts — say they and their colleagues have raised concerns about unequal pay for nearly two decades, according to the complaint. During that time, the college has produced public and internal pay studies that affirm the professors’ concerns.
