Good morning, and welcome to Tuesday, April 9. Eric Kelderman wrote today’s Briefing. Julia Piper compiled Comings and Goings. Get in touch: dailybriefing@chronicle.com.

Pay for women on the faculty lags at 4-year colleges

The Chronicle has compiled average salary data for faculty members at nearly 2,200 colleges from 2012-13 to 2022-23, and the figures show deep disparities, not only by sector but also by gender. Here are some highlights from the full database, created by our Brian O’Leary.

Women compose fewer than half of professors at most institutions:

• At both public and private four-year institutions, women make up just 36 percent of those at the rank of full professor.
• On average, female professors at public four-year colleges earn $120,848 for a nine-month-equivalent salary, or 88 percent of the salary of their male colleagues, $137,284.
• At private four-year colleges, the disparity is slightly wider: Women earn $130,671, or 86 percent of what their male colleagues receive, $151,947.

Women make up the majority of faculty members at the lowest-rank, instructor:

• At public four-year colleges, women are just under 60 percent of instructors. Even so, they still earn slightly less, on average, 95 percent, of men in the same position.
• Women make up 55 percent of instructors at private four-year colleges and earn $61,111, on average, nearly the same amount as men.

The highest salaries in public four-year colleges are heavily concentrated in California:

• Institutions in the University of California system are eight of the top 10 public colleges for overall faculty salaries. Two other campuses are in the top 20, and the Merced campus is at 34.
• The University of California at Los Angeles is at the top of the list, with an average nine-month-equivalent salary of $188,956.

Oklahoma has some of the lowest paid faculty members:

• Among the bottom 10 for average faculty salary at four-year public colleges, three institutions are in Oklahoma: Oklahoma Panhandle State University, East Central University, and Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology at Okmulgee.
  
• The lowest average salaries at four-year public colleges are at Sinte Gleska University, in South Dakota, where the nine-month-equivalent pay was $37,829 — less than 40 percent of the average for all public four-year colleges.

Quick hits

• Biden announces new plan to cancel student debt: The latest proposal from the White House would erase all or a portion of the federal student-loan debt for an estimated 30 million borrowers and is more tightly targeted than the president’s previous plan, which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023. Biden revealed the plan at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, a state where some 48,000 Democratic voters selected “uninstructed” rather than voting for Biden in the recent primary. (Associated Press)
• FAFSA completions are down 40 percent from last year: New data from the U.S. Department of Education shows the major impact of delays in the application process for the federal-aid form due to technical glitches and calculation errors by the department. (National College Attainment Network, The Chronicle)
• Arizona bill would allow guns on public-college campuses: The Republican-backed measure would apply to anyone with a concealed-carry permit and would prevent public colleges from enacting rules to ban guns on campuses. (Scripps News)
• New federal rules to forgive student loans under “borrower defense” are still on hold: A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has put a stay on the regulations, which were devised by the U.S. Department of Education to cancel the federal student loans of those defrauded by their colleges. The rules are being challenged by an association of for-profit colleges in Texas, which argue the regulations exceed the department’s authority. (Inside Higher Ed)
• Free-speech group rejects call to force athletes to be present for the national anthem: After the Louisiana State University women’s basketball team played in the NCAA’s Division I quarterfinal, Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, called out the team on social media for not being on the court during the playing of the national anthem. He asked LSU’s Board of Supervisors to enact a rule that athletes missing the anthem could lose their scholarships. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sent a letter to the board arguing that such a rule would violate the students’ First Amendment rights to free speech. (The Reveille, FIRE)

Stat of the day

$396 million

That’s the amount of money Mississippi’s 15 community colleges received from the state for operations and capital expenses, according to a news story by Mississippi Today/Open Campus. In comparison, the state’s eight public universities received $1.1 billion, not including financial aid.

The disparity in state support leaves the two-year colleges struggling to aid students and provide adequate facilities, community-college officials said. “It’s subliminally telling them, ‘You’re the stepchildren,’” said Nadara Cole, vice president for work-force training and economic development at Northeast Mississippi Community College. “That is the image we sometimes feel we are projecting because we don’t look as nice.”

Comings and goings

• Tommy Gregory, a member of the Florida House of Representatives, has been named president of the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.
• Stanley Bazile, vice president for student affairs and dean of students at St. Francis College, in New York, has been named vice president for student affairs and campus life at Ithaca College.
• David A. Ortiz, vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion and Title IX coordinator at Texas Lutheran University, has been named vice president for equity, accountability, and inclusive excellence at Southwestern University.
• Judith Kelley, dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, plans to step down at the end of the academic year.

To submit a new-hire announcement, email people@chronicle.com.

Footnote

In 1987 the sitcom A Different World gave many television viewers in the United States their first glimpse of a historically Black college. Though it was set at a fictional institution, Hillman College in Virginia, the show inspired Black students across the country to consider attending such an institution. Thirty-five years later, the show remains a cultural touchstone for many, and several cast members are now on a reunion tour, visiting several HBCU campuses, including Howard University today, to raise money for scholarships.