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DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM MARCH 3, 2021 VOL. 104, ISSUE 7
Salukis defeat No. 1 North Dakota State
‘Equality Act’ passes U.S. House of Representatives George Wiebe | gwiebe@dailyegyptian.com
The United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 5, also known as the “Equality Act,” Thursday Feb. 25. The bill, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, narrowly passed 224-206 and almost entirely along party lines, with the entire Democratic party being joined by three Republicans in passing the new legislation. The Equality Act had previously passed in the House in 2019, but was rejected by the Republican majority senate. Since then, the Supreme Court had ruled on Bostock v. Clayton County, in which Gerald Bostock, a gay man working for the State of Georgia, had been fired for “conduct unbecoming of its employees.” The 6-3 decision in favor of Bostock meant that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act could protect employees from being discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. Several Republican legislatures voiced opposition to the bill due to its perceived infringement on religious freedoms as well as the Supreme Court decision, which they felt had covered what H.R. 5 would cover. The day before the House vote, Illinois Congresswoman Marie Newman, whose daughter is transgender, put up a transgender flag outside her office. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose office is right across from Newman’s, hung a sign reading “There are TWO genders: MALE AND FEMALE. Trust The Science!” in response. Greene has faced criticism within the Republican party for this latest action; Representative Adam Kinzinger from Illinois, who today voted against the Equality Act, condemned Greene saying the video of her putting up the sign “represents the hate and fame driven politics of self-promotion at all evil costs.”
Continued on pg. 13 Saluki junior, Qua Brown, pushes the ball back on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019, during the Saluki’s 7-21 loss against the North Dakota State Bison. Isabel Miller | @Isabelmillermedia
Staff reporter George Wiebe can be reached at gwiebe@dailyegyptian.com
SIU faculty and staff present deep rooted salary inequities at committee meeting
Keaton Yates | @keatsians
With the ongoing budget crisis, SIU’s Faculty Senate Budget Committee compiled data of salaries which resulted in large disparities and, for the first time in SIU’s history, non tenured faculty are making more than tenured faculty. Southern Illinois University’s Faculty Senate Budget Committee met Friday afternoon in a Town Hall meeting to discuss policies related to budget equity and issues with the budget within SIUC. “For decades SIUC has considered equity and antidiscrimination with regard to
faculty hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, and treatment to be critical to the success of faculty and of the university as a whole,” the committee said in a budget equity report card. However, SIUC’s budget equity policies do not address compensation and financial disparities in tenuretrack and non-tenure track faculty. “No SIUC policy addresses a commitment to remedy pay and service disparities between faculty and administration or between tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty,” the report reads. SIUC has been in a financial crisis for the past five years, Jacob Haubenreich, FSBC’s chair and
associate professor in Languages, Culture, and International Trade, said. Based on data provided by the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, Institutional Research and Studies, and SIU Interactive Fact Book online, tenured track salary, undergraduate and graduate assistant salaries and academic unit chairs and director’s salaries have decreased significantly. Non-tenured track numbers and upper administration and management numbers have remained relatively stable. Nontenured salary has decreased by 3% while upper administration and management has decreased by 11%.
“People are leaving,” Haubenreich said. “This impacts my everyday life, it impacts the education I can offer.” Jennifer Brobst, FSBC member and associate professor of Law, was recently tenured and said she was excited to be a part of a small faculty, but soon realized people were being paid more for the same services she’s doing. “I don’t expect faculty to be martyrs about it, to ensure everybody has a fair playing field, but I do expect administrators, leaderships and department chairs to take the lead and have policies in place to keep working at remediating this,” she said. From 2011 to 2020, the provost
saw an 11.6% salary increase and the associate provost for academic provost had a 15.1% increase. The salary for the interim chancellor position increased 40% between 2015 and 2020. Chancellor Austin Lane is currently on his Listening and Learning Tour, as he settles into his new role. Through the tour Lane hopes to learn more about SIU’s strengths and weaknesses. In regards to the FSBC, he is interested in conducting a salary study. Staff reporter Keaton Yates can be reached by email at kyates@ dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @keatsians.