Women and people of color who work in the California State University system are underpaid compared to their white male counterparts, alleges a class-action lawsuit filed this week in San Bernardino by a CSU employee.
Camelia Fowler, a Black community partnerships analyst at Cal State San Bernardino, claims the university system is violating the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. She is seeking unspecified damages.
“Fowler, among other things, is in a position at Cal State University-San Bernardino where the two previous holders of the position, whom were each men, made substantially more money than she for doing the same work,” states the suit, filed Monday, June 27, in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
A similar pattern exists throughout the CSU system, which includes 23 campuses, 485,550 students, and nearly 56,000 faculty and staff, the complaint alleges.
Fowler’s attorney, Joseph Robinson, said Tuesday the lawsuit seeks to force the CSU system to demonstrate it values employees through competitive wages, benefits and rewarding careers,
“They can’t fulfill that promise if employees are discouraged from bringing problems to CSU’s attention due to uneven grievance and investigation processes, and retaliation,” he said. “Finally, being valued includes paying comparatively experienced and qualified women and people of color similar pay for similar work.”.
Members of CSU’s Board of Trustees declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying they haven’t been served with the complaint.
Pay disparity
The lawsuit cites a May 2022 study by the California State University Employees Union that found a disparity in wages among CSU employees based on gender and ethnicity.
“This study has revealed facts, not conjectures,” Robinson said. “It’s finally proven what so many have always claimed and fought against. Discriminatory practices are alive and well at CSU.”
According to the study, white men make about 3% more than men of color, 5% more than white women and 7% more than women of color.
The study was partially based on research from Mercer Consulting, hired by the state in 2021 to review CSU’s compensation program.
A report from Mercer issued in May states that CSU does not have consistent procedures for providing employee raises and promotions. It also recommended that the state spend $287 million to correct the system’s compensation disparities.
Discrimination investigation
In another matter related to discrimination governed by Title IX, the California Legislature on Monday ordered state auditors to investigate CSU’s policies for investigating sexual harassment complaints. Title IX protects individuals from discrimination based on gender in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.
The audit comes on the heels of former CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro’s resignation in February amid a firestorm of criticism for his handling of sexual harassment complaints against former Cal State Fresno administrator Frank Lamas.
“The recent sexual harassment allegations involving several CSU campuses, as well as the Chancellor’s Office, is unacceptable and warrants the scrutiny and impartiality that only the State Auditor’s Office can provide,” Assemblymember Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, said in a statement Monday.
“It is unacceptable for this nation’s largest four-year public university system to have such widespread sexual harassment allegations and payouts.”
Instead of thoroughly investigating multiple complaints of sexual misconduct and other questionable behavior involving Lamas, Castro, while president of Fresno State, allowed him to quietly retire. Under a settlement agreement Lamas signed in August 2020, he was paid $260,000 and provided a glowing letter of recommendation from Castro.
Shortly after the settlement was signed, the Board of Trustees appointed Castro to the position of chancellor of the entire CSU system.
Although no longer serving as chancellor, Castro receives a $401,000 salary and is participating in a yearlong transition program. Upon completion, he can become a professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he is tenured. Castro has not yet indicated whether he will exercise his option to return to a faculty post.
Shortly after Castro decided to participate in the transition program, CSU trustees determined they would cease granting similar transition opportunities to newly hired executives until they had reviewed recommendations from a task force.
CSU trustees are supportive of the state’s audit of its Title IX policies, said Toni Molle, a spokesperson for the Chancellor’s Office.
“The CSU is actively working to make changes that ensure that all 23 campuses and the Chancellor’s Office are safe and welcoming environments where students, faculty, and staff can succeed personally, professionally, and intellectually, free of discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct,” Molle said. “We are committed to being a national leader in all areas of Title IX support.”
In a message last week to CSU students and faculty, interim Chancellor Jolene Koester said the system will soon begin an internal assessment of Title IX policies on all of its campuses, beginning with Fresno State.
“I am not a Title IX expert,” she said. “I am a 74-year-old white woman who has had many privileges in life. But while I have not experienced what could be described as sexual violence, I certainly have faced gender-based discrimination, and I have experienced sexually inappropriate behavior and physical intimidation. And I know unequivocally that how people are treated — how we treat people, as universities and a university system — matters. In fact, it reflects all that we stand for.”