MARQUETTE, MI-- Four Northern Michigan University College of Business professors are suing the school for gender discrimination.
Claudia Hart, Carol Steinhaus, Karin Stultz, and Margaret Vroman claim the College significantly underpays its female faculty compared to their male counterparts and denies them equal opportunities for tenure and other benefits. The complaint says Hart, Steinhaus, and Vroman are the only female professors in the College of Business and they earn about 9 percent less than their male counterparts. It says Stultz is an Associate Professor and currently earns about 39 percent less than male associate professors, on average.
The lawsuit also claims The College of Business has a practice of awarding tenure track positions to male faculty members instead of equally or more qualified female faculty members.
The complainants are asking for a jury trial to resolve the issues.
NMU Spokesman Derek Hall released a statement saying NMU doesn’t comment on pending litigation or personnel matters. He says faculty salaries are dependent upon credentials, degrees, teaching area, and research and are based upon negotiated formulas with the faculty union.
