Faculty Salary Equity Cases: Combining Statistics with the Law

Researchers have used many statistical models to determine whether an institution's faculty pay structure is equitable, with varying degrees of success. Little attention, however, has been given to court interpretations of statistical significance or to what variables courts have acknowledged should be used in an equity model. This article discusses the differences between statistics and the law, using prominent faculty salary court decisions as an aid in fine-tuning an institutional faculty salary study.