The glass piggy-bank

I consider myself a hard-boiled cynic, but every once in a while a news item comes around that makes me drop my jaw. All day long, as this one has (and it's not even new news, looking now at the dateline).

Let's put it this way: did you know that UCLA has a secret slush fund that it uses to fund preferred faculty? Read this astonishing report:

In 1998, Conney signed a contract with UCLA for a full-time fellowship position, but three years later, the school denied her the promotion and reassigned her as a part-time employee with a significant pay cut. She later learned that similarly situated male coworkers were paid double or more what she earned, and that they were offered promotions that she was told were unavailable.

...

In addition to the original complains Conney had against the school, it was discovered during court proceedings that her UCLA department had a secret reserve of money that they used to supplement the salaries of male faculty members only.

For those interested in skipping to the happy ending, she ended up scoring 4 million in damages.

My instinct is that any comment is superfluous, save those that would try and argue for the defense. Now, those I'd be interested in hearing. And yeah, I wonder who else round here is getting their pay topped up right now. Anyone? Anyone?

[Link courtesy Bitch, PhD. If you're not familiar with this, IMO it's one of the very best blogs going. YMMV.]