Female Professors File Class Action Against Vassar College Over Alleged Gender Pay Gap

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A proposed class action alleges Vassar College deliberately underpays, underpromotes and unfairly evaluates female professors.

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The 25-page lawsuit was filed by five female professors at Vassar who claim the institution has for decades maintained a widening gender pay gap, systematically delayed their promotions, and consistently awarded them lower merit ranks than male professors during performance reviews.

“[The] Plaintiffs—and all Vassar female full professors—are leaders in their fields who are highly regarded by their contemporaries and by the student population,” the case says. “For far too long, Vassar has failed to fairly and equitably value their contributions to the College.”

A private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, Vassar was founded in 1861 “to provide women an education equal to that once available only to men,” the filing relays. Today, Vassar still proudly identifies as a “pioneer for women’s education” that claims to strive for equity and inclusion, the complaint says.

In stark contrast to these purported values, average salary data shared with the Chronicle of Higher Education reveals the existence of a gender pay disparity for full professors at Vassar for every year dating back to 2003, the case alleges. For instance, during the 2021-2022 academic year, male full professors were paid an average of $153,238, while female full professors were paid $139,322, which comes out to a 10 percent pay gap, the lawsuit says. The 2010-2011 academic year saw the highest pay gap within the past two decades at 13.4 percent, the filing notes.

The complaint explains that historically, Vassar systematically offered men higher starting salaries than women. Because pay increases are offered as a percentage of a professor’s prior salary, these initial pay disparities have grown exponentially over the class members’ “often multi-decade” careers, the case contends.

“There is no doubt that Vassar has long known about—and long failed to correct— this pay disparity,” the suit contends, noting that employees have approached the administration with concerns about pay inequality “since at least as early as 2008.” According to the suit, Vassar has repeatedly refused to cooperate with professors’ initiatives to address the issue and instead decreased transparency around faculty salaries.

Per the lawsuit, Vassar has attempted to explain that male faculty members have higher salaries because they are promoted to the rank of full professor faster than female faculty members.

However, the filing contends, Vassar’s justification ignores that promotion to full professor takes longer for women because the process requires department support and peer reviews that “fundamentally favor men over comparable women.” Moreover, state and federal law prohibits Vassar from intentionally paying women less than men for “substantially similar work,” regardless of title, the case claims.

“Associate and full professors perform the same job duties,” the lawsuit says. “Further, at Vassar there is no salary increase associated with the promotion to full professor.”

Finally, the suit argues that the merit rating system Vassar relies on to make compensation and promotion decisions systematically disadvantages women because it is “tainted with bias.” 

During performance reviews in which the faculty appointment and salary committee, the dean of faculty and the president participate, professors are assigned a merit rating on a four-point scale, the filing explains. The complaint says that as part of their annual faculty salary increase, professors can receive a merit raise that positively correlates with their merit rating.

According to the case, Vassar consistently awards female professors lower merit designations than men despite comparable or superior performance.

The lawsuit looks to represent any women currently or formerly employed by Vassar as full professors since May 14, 2015.

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