Tuesday, 5/13/97 UC to settle sex bias case LAWSUIT: Santa
Barbara professor claims salary gap is based on gender
By Brooke Olson Daily Bruin Senior Staff The University of
California will officially settle today a gender pay gap lawsuit
filed by a UC Santa Barbara professor. The UC may be ordered to pay
in excess of $100,000 in damages and attorney fees. Chicano studies
Professor Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez filed a lawsuit last September
against UCSB and the regents, legally challenging the unequal
payment of women and minorities within the university. In addition
to the payoff, the settlement contains a court order securing
permanent future protection for Broyles-Gonzalez against gender,
race and political discrimination within the university. Once the
order is signed by the court, UC will be unable to disregard the
settlement, thereby guaranteeing court monitoring of the
professor’s situation. Counter to the way in which the university
usually handles such sensitive cases, UC did not impose a "gag
order" on the plaintiff. The gag order would have legally barred
Broyles-Gonzalez from speaking publicly about the settlement. The
professor will publicly review her case today in a press conference
at UCSB. UC spokespersons said they were unaware of the lawsuit,
while the UCSB general counsel’s office did not return phone calls.
Broyles-Gonzalez’s attorneys described university administrators
and counsel as "responsive and responsible." "We had a settlement
conference fairly soon after the lawsuit was filed last September,"
said Robert Racine, attorney for the plaintiff. "It took us some
time to reach a settlement point but the university was cooperative
and fair throughout the process." In addition, Racine believes the
case may have been settled quickly as a result of his past legal
experience with the university. Racine and lawyer Moises Vazquez
handled the 1995 Rodolfo Acuna age-discrimination case against UCSB
and reached a settlement of $300,000 in back pay for Acuna. Acuna
filed the suit after UCSB refused to hire him on the basis of his
age. "We’ve had a lot experience in these matters and are quite
familiar with how the system works," Racine said. "I’m sure that
(our experience) couldn’t have hurt (Broyles-Gonzalez’s) case." It
is likely that this settlement will have no bearing on any pay
disparities which may exist at UCLA, according to UCLA Vice
Chancellor of Legal Affairs Joseph Mandel. "(The case) has zero to
do with facts at UCLA," Mandel said, adding that each pay inequity
case would be handled in accordance with the facts of each
allegation. The UC’s unequal payment of women has been documented
in various internal and external studies. The 1995 journal "Monthly
Forum on Women in Higher Education" ranked UCSB as the ninth worst
offender nationally of creating a gender pay gap. Academic salaries
at UCSB for male and female full professors differ by an average of
$12,900. The university has spent millions on gender discrimination
over the last few years. On July 7, 1996, the San Jose Mercury News
obtained and exposed the high cost of sex-bias cases. According to
the Mercury News, the UCs spent millions of dollars in public funds
during the past decade to settle complaints made by female
professors. These women claimed that sexist views stood in the way
of their tenure – and now have been forced by the UCs to keep quiet
about their settlements. The cases were shrouded in secrecy for
years because the UC insisted the settlements include a
confidentiality rule barring women from discussing the agreements
or testifying in other disputes. Some women throughout the UC
system formed an activist group called "We Advocate Gender Equity,"
and were determined to end the secrecy and break what they saw as a
pattern of bias in a public university still dominated by men.
Broyles-Gonzalez’s lawsuit helped bring national attention to the
unequal treatment of women and minorities at the university level.
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