Median salaries identify the mid-range salary within a particular rank; median years of service identify the mid-point in the range for that particular category. These numbers are not necessarily associated with the same individual. Information provided by the Office of Institutional Research.

Differences in median salaries generally seem attributable to differences in years of service and field. However, when looking at the highest female salaries as a % of the highest male salaries, the results are harder to interpret (Table 14). It may be equitable for a woman who has served 21 years in the College of Arts and Sciences to be paid 76% of what a man who has served twice that time makes. In the schools of Business and Music, however, women who have served the same amount of time as a male counterpart are making between 84% and 88% of the man’s salary.

Based upon information provided by the Office of Institutional Research.

When highest and lowest salaries are reported by rank as well as school, as in Table 15, one finds that the highest salaries in each rank—except for assistant and associate professors in the College of Arts and Sciences—are paid to men. That is, only in 2 of the 12 categories (each rank plus all ranks taken collectively) (16.67%) are women paid higher salaries. This is in part attributable to length of service. On the other hand, the most recently hired women and men (who within each school receive the lowest salaries) seem to be paid more equitably in relation to one another. Differences here seem attributable, at least in part, to discipline.

Although we did not have access to the data, it is our understanding that faculty salaries have also been analyzed for equity by comparing men and women by length of service. This form of analysis seems especially useful in detecting any gender inequities that might exist.

Information provided by the Office of Institutional Research.

In the exempt categories, women collectively earn 78% of what men earn, although women occupy over half of these positions. The most likely explanation is that women do not hold the highest paying positions in these categories.

Exempt employee figures exclude administrative officers (President, Vice-presidents, and administrators with faculty status).
 

The Staff Compensation Committee has begun working to identify and respond to inequities in staff salaries. In order to identify the most egregious inequities, that group began by constructing an imaginary trajectory stretching over a 30-year period from the lowest point of the salary scale in a given range to the highest point. Those falling below that line were considered first for equity adjustments. This was a positive first step, though given the relatively small range that constitutes the different pay grades, one would not expect it would take 30 years to reach the top of the scale. (3% annual increases would put an employee at the top of existing ranges in under 15 years.) Much more work needs to be done to respond to the perception of many staff members that they are virtually "stuck" at the same step in their range for years. The Committee is also benchmarking staff salaries with comparable Volusia county positions and considering ways to compare salaries with comparable positions. Exempt salaries pose different challenges, since they are more difficult to benchmark. The Compensation Committee is working to find ways to compare the salaries exempt employees with positions roughly similar in terms of the experience and qualifications they require. The Women’s Council supports this work and urges the administration to ensure that all Stetson employees are fairly compensated.

Another issue related to compensation that has been raised with respect to exempt or salaried employees involves the lack of a consistent "comp-time" policy. While deans, vice-presidents, and directors might reasonably be expected to put in more than 40 hour weeks, salaried employees do not meet the legal definition of an "exempt" employee should not be expected to work overtime without being compensated--either in dollars or time--for their efforts.

Finally, staff women who participated in the 1998 summer Women’s Workshop raised the question of a flex-time policy. We encourage the university to investigate the feasibility of establishing a consistent flex-time policy. While some employees might legitimately be expected to work regular hours, some might be able to arrange alternative schedules to meet the needs of their particular situation. In the absence of a flex-time policy, supervisors might be encouraged to see the positive benefits to the institution of allowing employees--particularly those struggling to balance work and family life--with some flexibility in their scheduled hours, when that flexibility does not unduly disrupt the work in the office. Surely such flexibility is very much in keeping with Stetson’s commitments to values and support of family life.

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