(for the AAUP Chapter newsletter -- AAUP Works for You)

November 1999

In the last round of contract negotiations the AAUP team presented a proposal to address inequities, but the administration was not interested in discussing the topic. After the completion of negotiations, the AAUP Board authorized the re-establishment of the chapter’s Committee W (Committee W on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession). The committee held its first meeting in February. Members include Marcia Bellas (A&S), Bernadette Dietz (Clermont), Andrea T. Kornbluh (RWC), Maita Levine (A&S), Carl Purdy (Engineering), Pat O’Reilly (Education), and Dave Sterling (AAUP). Committee W spent several months reviewing the history of previous efforts to remedy gender inequities at UC. To do this we collected relevant documents from the past twenty-six years and established a permanent collection of these at the AAUP office. On the basis of this study, Committee W made two recommendations to the AAUP Board.

First, the Committee asked that the chapter contact the U.S. Department of Labor to request it to resume pursuit of the complaint against the University of Cincinnati. In 1995 the Department of Labor found UC in violation of various Federal orders and rules including a violation related to “salary disparities based on race and sex” which involved at least 102 Faculty Members. The Labor Department ordered UC to develop a plan for corrective action including salary adjustment and provision of back pay. Compliance by the University was put on hold pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by four U.C. women Faculty Members on behalf of all women Faculty members at U.C. After the Federal Court refused to certify the class in this suit, the AAUP, through its counsel, asked the Department of Labor to resume pursuit of the complaint against the University of Cincinnati.

Second, the Committee asked that the chapter retain the services of a national expert to conduct a study of gender inequities at UC. The AAUP Board voted to do so, and on September 27 the Board and Committee W met with Robert T. Toutkoushian to discuss the study. The study has two objectives: First, it will determine if there is any evidence of an unexplained pay gap between male and female faculty at the University of Cincinnati. Second, if evidence of gender-based pay disparities is found, the study will offer recommendations on how best to remove these salary inequities. Toutkoushian proposed a timeline for the study, expecting it to take about three months from the time he receives the data from UC.

Committee W will keep chapter members informed of our work on this issue. We plan to hold a public forum once the study is complete to share the results with the University community. In addition to the Department of Labor’s investigation, and the Toutkoushian study, Committee W will be making its own “gender equity audit” surveying faculty members about their perceptions of the issue. We expect that in 1999-2000 the chapter will make significant steps in its efforts in the area of gender inequity.