Group of Hispanic professors asked for equal pay and opportunities at the University of Texas.
(Photo : Pexels)

A disgruntled group of Hispanic professors from the University of Texas are demanding equal pay and equal leadership opportunities behind the inequalities they experienced when compared to the American professors. These groups of Hispanic professors have presented different incidents where they are underpaid and underutilized even if they are qualified to be appointed to a leadership position based on their resume. 

The eight full-time professors presented in the Hispanic Equity Report at the state capitol on Friday afternoon serious inequalities at the University of Texas in terms of pay, leadership, recruitment, and retention. It can be recalled that in the past few articles published in the Latin Post there have been reports about inequalities among Hispanics and Latinos. Sometimes this led to domestic violence and hate crimes. It can also be remembered that an article in Latin Post titled, Latinos in Hollywood Are Becoming Rare, Study Shows, reports on how Hispanics and Latinos experienced inequalities inside their working place.

Recently, an article was published in CBS Austin, where a group of Hispanic professors were asking for equal opportunities and equal pay. In a study they presented the idea that there is a big disparity of salary given to the professors based on race and ethnicity. It was found that employees, or Hispanic professors, at the University of Texas received the lowest median salary of around 42,000 dollars in 2017 and 47,000 dollars in 2019. Moreover, they also gave a specific example of inequality in terms of salary. It was reported that a Hispanic full-time professor only received 25,000 dollars a year compared to their white American counterparts. 

The study presented by the professors does not only discuss the disparities in terms of salary, but it also includes inequalities in terms of leadership opportunities. Many of the Hispanic professors who have long resumes or are qualified to be in a position, were rejected. However, white Americans who have shorter resumes and are not performing well are most likely to be promoted in the job. This means that there is discrimination among Hispanics and Latinos. They were not given a chance to hold a position because of their race and ethnicity.

Behind this issue surrounding the University of Texas, they released a statement that says, "Over the past year, the university has been working to address many of the issues of faculty equity echoed by this independent report. Executive Vice President and Provost Maurie McInnis have committed the university to understand the source of the disparity in salaries described in the report. The provost has also asked the deans to review and report about their processes and outcomes in leadership selection, to improve transparency into these processes and to consider equity in the selection of leaders." They even added that as the provost wrote the authors of the report, "We are focused on taking real action, an action that will lead to sustained change, and that requires real care and a deliberate approach."

In an article published in the website of the University of Texas at Austin, Office of the Vice President and Provost they posted updates on faculty equity initiatives and these are Faculty Equity Councils, New Deans Committee, Governance and Service Workload, Salary and Compensation, Faculty Hiring, Endowments and Awards, and Work Environment.