The Miscellany News

As parents, siblings and loved ones wandered campus for Families Weekend, HearUsOut, a student-led group at Vassar, set up tables and handed out pamphlets with information about the ongoing pay equity litigation against the College.

The tabling comes in the midst of a powerful debate on campus between the administration, community members, faculty and students. HearUsOut, who organized the first show of student support for the professors—a protest outside of the first faculty meeting of the year on Sept. 13—have rallied students to raise awareness of the ongoing lawsuit to admissions tours. 

One member of HearUsOut, Sophie Mode ’25, said informing potential students at the Kautz Admissions building is the best way to spread awareness to a wider audience. “We are in front of the admissions house in three shifts every Monday, Thursday and Friday, sharing pamphlets with prospective students and families,” Mode explained. She added, “Visiting families have engaged with us, with most taking our materials and many also asking questions and taking steps to further understand the lawsuit and ensuing activism.”

These students ensure that in their protests they share how important Vassar is to them. She said, “In these conversations [with visiting families], we make it clear that we love our community here and that is why we are doing this. We need our professors to feel that they are loved and respected, and that relies on equal wages from our College.”

Michelle Lamy, attorney for the plaintiffs said in a written statement to The Miscellany News, “We understand from our clients that the student protests created an overwhelmingly positive environment on campus, among both students and faculty.” 

Another member of HearUsOut, Gwynne Smith ’24, said, “Our plan is to continue to do them [protests] until Vassar takes sufficient action to support their faculty and uphold their promise of equity and inclusion.”

Smith said that seeing her professors expressing such happiness and gratitude for the actions of their students has felt surreal. She added that while the administration has not reached out directly to HearUsOut, the administration sent out an email to parents and families informing them of the ongoing protests at tours and Families Weekend. Smith said, “I’m glad [families] do see us, so they can read our pamphlet and get more facts about the lawsuit.”

In a correspondence with The Miscellany News, Bradley said she and the administration support the ongoing student protests outside of admissions. “Use your voice,” she said, “It’s the Vassar way. An engaged and active campus that debates important issues is a healthy one.” 

Since the news of the lawsuit broke in The Wall Street Journal and subsequently The Miscellany News, a number of Letters to the Editor in The Miscellany News have kept the conversation going both in person and online. President Elizabeth Bradley and General Counsel for Vassar College Shay Humphrey have written on behalf of the College, and female full professors, male full professors and two-thirds of associate professors have written five letters in support of the plaintiffs. 

Many of these letters throw counter-claims at one another. In a recent email from Bradley to the Vassar community, she spoke out about the data surfacing: “Recent media reports have identified differences in Vassar’s average faculty salaries for women as compared to men; however, as is so often the case, averages do not tell a complete story. At Vassar, as at many colleges and universities, faculty salaries are determined by several factors. These can include, for instance, academic field, years in the position, and peer evaluations of performance. Average salaries do not account for these factors and therefore can be misleading.”

The women full professors, however, stood firm against Bradley’s media statements in their second Letter to the Editor on Sept. 27, 2023, titled “Letter to the Editor: Women professors counter Bradley.” “In the same [New York Times] article, Bradley also continues to justify the gender pay gap at Vassar by suggesting it is due to differences in seniority, department affiliation and impartial peer review. This is false: The compensation analyses Bradley internally conducted alongside several female faculty (and subsequently ignored) already confirmed that these factors do not account for the gender pay gap among full professors.” 

On Monday, Oct. 2, Humphrey, the General Counsel for Vassar College, published a Letter to the Editor with The Miscellany News yet again countering the claims of the professors. She said, “The assertion that Vassar has ‘agreed to’ conduct an ‘independent compensation analysis’ is not accurate. Rather, President Bradley, ‘invited our Faculty Compensation Committee to participate in selecting a third-party compensation analysis firm to use our data and assess pay equity relative to our salary policies and practices,’ as written here.”

Bradley confirmed to The Miscellany News that there is no update on the lawsuit, adding, “The process to carefully resolve the matter will take time, and we have no updates on the timeline. I will continue to communicate to the Vassar community the best that I can, as frequently as I can.”Humphrey’s Letter to the Editor did include that Vassar’s legal counsel has advised President Bradley not to discuss the lawsuit in any detail and not to take any actions that would be outside the normal progression of the case through the court system. 

Bradley said she read the two Letters to the Editor, published Thursday, Sept. 28, one from associate professors and the other from women full professors, and said, “I concur with the professors’ sentiment that the College should continue to work constructively with all professors to ensure gender pay equity.” She added, “In response to the letter from the associate professors, I would like to take the opportunity again to invite the faculty—and re-extend the invitation previously made to the Faculty Compensation Committee—to collaborate on selecting and engaging a third-party compensation analysis firm to use our data and assess pay equity relative to our salary policies and practices, making recommendations for adjustments if needed.” 

In her written correspondence with The Miscellany News, she added, “I would also like the firm to work with us over the longer term on considering a new approach to establishing annual faculty salary increases that can be a model for Vassar and hundreds of institutions—academic and nonacademic—across the country who are grappling with this important issue.”

Bradley affirmed, “Higher education has learned much about inclusive pedagogy that fosters thriving in every student, using varying and creative approaches to learning. We are also continuously learning about equity in recruitment and hiring. The faculty-led salary policies and practices were designed forty years ago and would benefit from a re-examination, although by the College’s Governance, this process must be undertaken and approved by the faculty.”

Despite the ongoing pay equity debate at Vassar and the expected slow turnout of the litigation, students are focused on protesting for their professors nonetheless. Smith said, “The organizers are committed to continuing momentum in this student action, and we’re considering many new

ways to get information out and put pressure on the school to respond appropriately.” 

Smith said she is incredibly proud of the student body for its activism and show of support for their professors. She explained of the protests, “Many of my professors have expressed that they were so happy that so many students have spoken out in solidarity and felt really glad to be supported by our student community when so many have been let down by the leadership of Vassar.”