We, the undersigned assistant professors, express solidarity with the senior women colleagues in their class-action lawsuit aimed at holding Vassar accountable to its own stated values regarding pay equity. The current lawsuit, which calls on the College to honor its historic reputation as a champion of gender equality in higher education, has exposed that our senior colleagues have internally elevated concerns about gender pay disparities for more than fourteen years.
As junior faculty joining the campus community, we have listened attentively to our senior colleagues—both in faculty meetings and in casual workplace conversations—discuss the flaws in the College’s evaluation practices. We appreciate the efforts made by full professors and other long-time employees of the College in identifying patterns of gender- and race-based bias in the College’s review practices that have impacted their careers at Vassar, and we stand by them in solidarity. Moreover, we fear that if these voices go unheeded, and further College-wide full pay transparency is not offered by the administration, such policies and practices will continue to reproduce pay inequities. How the College responds to this case will set a precedent for how they value and treat future generations of female faculty moving forward.
Therefore, we join our colleagues in calling upon President Bradley and the Board of Trustees to settle the lawsuit in a manner that reflects the immense contributions of our female senior colleagues and demonstrates a commitment to addressing the issue of gender pay disparities at Vassar. Additionally, we call upon them to allocate the necessary resources to all faculty committees to enhance transparency and rectify these inequities in the long term. We hope these steps bring us closer together as a community and empower us all to put Vassar’s values into practice.
Sincerely,
Sole Anatrone, Assistant Professor of Italian
Leah Isseroff Bendavid, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Andy Borum, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
Amy Chin, Assistant Professor of American Studies & Asian Studies
Alberto Gelmi, Assistant Professor of Italian Studies
Katie Gemmill, Assistant Professor of English
Hannah Gommerstadt, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Gordon Hall, Assistant Professor of Art
Myra Hughey, Assistant Professor of Biology
Trevor Hyde, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
Lee Kennedy-Shaffer, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
Elizabeth Lastra, Assistant Professor of Art
Montserrat Madariaga Caro, Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies
Krystle J. McLaughlin, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Taneisha Means, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Daniel Mendiola, Assistant Professor of History
Tracy O’Neill, Assistant Professor of English
Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Dianne Pater, Assistant Professor of Biology
Allison Puglisi, Assistant Professor of History
Michael Reyes Salas, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies
Claire Sagan, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Blevin Shelnutt, Assistant Professor of English
Ashanti Shih, Assistant Professor of History
Payton Small, Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences
Catherine Tan, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Kirsten Wesselhoeft, Assistant Professor of Religion
Mallory Whiteduck, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Kimberly Williams Brown, Assistant Professor of Education
This is so neat!!
How about taking the next step and having the entire work force responsible for managing Vassar. Teaching faculty could run the academics, thr labor workers could run the operations and Cafeteria; fund raising, Accounting and marketing could be outsourced. Fire the management and trustees!
If Vassar is all about a quality education- we need to get rid of everything else and get our priorities right. Power to the workers!!