Provost initiates salary equity review process

Academic units will begin using a systematic review process to ensure that faculty are paid fairly and equitably, Provost Peter Spear says.

“Many factors may lead to inequities in salaries so that they are not directly related to merit,” Spear says.

During a 2000-01 study of salary inequities related to gender, a review of female faculty resulted in pay adjustments for some faculty members, leading university administration to consider the possibility of a salary review for all faculty.

“It is important to evaluate salaries periodically to ensure that they are equitable and based on merit. This should be done for all faculty as a regular part of our salary process, not simply in response to campus studies or individual grievances,” he says.

Spear is instructing academic units to conduct automatic salary equity reviews when faculty undergo normal career merit evaluations — when faculty are promoted to associate professor and full professor, during five-year post-tenure reviews and in the third year of probation. Faculty may request reviews at any time.

Spear says that because salary equity reviews will be carried out during normal career reviews, they should involve no additional work for campus units.

When conducting the evaluations, units should use criteria similar to those used during the 2000-01 gender pay equity review. While the earlier review compared female faculty with three male faculty, however, the new salary equity evaluations will compare faculty to three other faculty regardless of gender.

Schools or colleges should compare each faculty member’s salary to three faculty members with similar education, training, academic ranks, years since degree, specialization and academic unit. They should also consider faculty members’ merit based on their performance and ability to obtain grants, market demands for their specialties and administrative duties. Units must then provide written justification for any inequity that still exists following the review. The dean of each unit will review the decision. Appeals can be made through existing departmental appeal procedures.

Spear will monitor the process and provide advice, as requested.

“A successful proactive program to promote salary equity for all our faculty will improve campus climate and will positively affect our ability to recruit and retain outstanding faculty,” he says. “In short, ensuring salary equity will help make us a better university.”