Maxwell faculty comment on D.O. article

Dear Editor,

We write as chair of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Faculty Salary Committee (Murrett) and current president of the Maxwell Faculty Council (Rupert) in order to correct a significant misstatement about our work in a Daily Orange article published on December 6: “Unresolved” by Lydia Niles

As noted in The D.O. article, the Maxwell Faculty Council did convene a Faculty Salary Committee (FSC) following release of the University faculty salary report last year. In April of this year, the Maxwell FSC presented the Faculty Council with a report including recommendations for analyzing and addressing gendered and other pay disparities such as those indicated in the University-wide salary report. The FSC report called on the Maxwell Dean’s Office to acknowledge that a gender equity problem was indicated, investigate its scope within the Maxwell School and implement remedies for gender inequities within the school. This report was approved unanimously by the Maxwell Faculty Council on April 10, 2018.

The Maxwell FSC report included a Subcommittee report that provided perspective on the analysis performed by the Maxwell Dean’s office following release of the University-wide report. The report noted that the Dean’s office was able to utilize newer and more complete data sets for Maxwell faculty than those used in the University report, but also noted significant limitations of the initial Maxwell analysis.  It called on the Dean’s office to further refine its analysis to include additional variables and interview female faculty directly to get a fuller sense of their concerns. While the recommendations called for additional analysis with respect to salary inequities, there was not a consensus nor recommendation that the Dean’s office “use the University data” and “forego its internal analysis,” as the DO article incorrectly stated.

The Maxwell Faculty Salary Committee continues its dialogue with the Dean’s Office and with the Faculty Council to assess the scope of the issue and monitor progress toward its resolution.

Sincerely,

Mark Rupert, Maxwell Faculty Council President

Robert Murrett, Maxwell Faculty Salary Committee Chair