
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 5, 1993                   TAG: 9305050206
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

MALE VCU PROFESSORS SUE SCHOOL

Five Virginia Commonwealth University professors have filed a lawsuit alleging that the school did not grant male faculty members raises that female faculty members received.

The class-action suit was filed under the federal Civil Rights Act on behalf of all male faculty at the university. The suit alleges a violation of the Equal Employment Opportunities Act.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, was in response to the university's efforts last year to erase what it said was widespread salary discrimination against women. It awarded about $400,000 in raises, all to women.

The plaintiffs, Ted J. Smith III, Guy J. DeGenaro, Frank P. Belloni, George W. Rimler and Allan L. Rosenbaum, are full-time faculty members, the suit said.

The men contend that VCU discriminated against them by considering only women for pay increases, which averaged about $1,900. All female faculty who sought a raise received one.

VCU spokesman Brian Matt said Tuesday that university officials would not comment on the case because it is in litigation.

The suit alleges that 20 to 40 women received raises based solely on gender, not on merit or evidence of inequity.

The complaint says VCU unlawfully has withheld wages due male faculty "and has caused the plaintiffs to suffer damages in the form of back pay and reimbursement measured by the average increase in pay received by the female faculty members in violation of the Equal Pay Act of 1963."

The suit asks that male faculty "be compensated fairly and without regard to gender and that the court permanently enjoin the university from engaging in such practices in the future."

by CNB