Two years of academic study and hard work has resulted in little but frustration for some UM faculty, leaving feelings of unease about the future face of education on campus.

A 1995 gender equity study by Richard Barrett, UM Economics professor, demonstrated that for tenure track faculty, women earn 15% less than their male counterparts, based solely on their gender. In his study, Barrett compensated for several variations including rank, discipline, and prior teaching experience. Subsequent analysis showed a 3% increase in women's wages was necessary to balance faculty salaries.

Since that time, a flurry of memos has been the primary action between faculty committees and the administration, with suggestions for remedies coming in at a standard bureaucratic pace.

The last official word came this February from President Dennison, who plans to implement one of three strategies to address the issue. His plan will take effect pending a final individualized study of female UM faculty hired since 1984, but nobody knows which plan it will be.

''We're waiting for Dennison to communicate what it is that he proposes,'' said Kay Unger, UM Economics professor and member of the Ad Hoc Gender Equity Committee. The committee ''has been trying to work with the administration in quantifying pay discrimination and seeking a non-adversarial resolution,'' Unger said, to what is a sensitive and possibly litigious issue.

In order to avoid a legal challenge, you have to have ''certain evidence showing there was a pattern of discrimination in hiring salaries,'' Barrett said. This data is ''extremely hard to come by'' and ''since there seems to be a lack of mutual understanding about what data [Dennison] wants,'' said Barrett, the process seems at a standstill.

That's because not everyone has seen the data, said President Dennison, which was apparently collected rather quietly. These results, which are available to anyone, ''do not show a systematic bias'' in hiring salaries, he said.

Dennison believes once he and Barrett can meet to discuss the situation, they can determine which method to complete the analysis. While aware that the process has taken a lot longer than anyone would like, he wants to avoid legal complications: ''I'd rather use our resources in a better way,'' he said.

''My interest is in getting it finished. I know this is a serious issue and we've got to address it right the first time,'' said Dennison.

#