University of Miami Offers Nowhere Near Equal Pay for Women, Harpist Claims

A master harp player and music teacher claims she has a trove of evidence to show the University of Miami consistently pays female instructors less than their male counterparts for the same work — by a long shot.

In a lawsuit against the university, Laura Sherman claims she raised her concerns about gender-based pay discrimination to the dean of the Frost School of Music and the vice provost of faculty affairs, to no avail.

"When plaintiff complained to her supervisor that the disparity was illegal, the supervisor gave specific legal advice... indicating that since they have one male in the department that receives a lower salary than [her], they are immune from lawsuits," the complaint states.

Sherman is a harpist and music theory expert who has worked with the New York City Ballet, American Symphony Orchestra, and Palm Beach Symphony. She's played for Broadway shows and toured the world as a harp player for Barbara Streisand.

She was hired as a lecturer at the university in July 2019 at a $30,000 salary. She made $41,000 the following academic year, and as of 2022, earns a $44,500 salary, according to the complaint.

The latest in a string of payday discrimination cases against University of Miami (UM), Sherman's lawsuit alleges that "her workload was equal to or greater than her male counterparts," but that she received significantly lower wages.

The harpist took legal action after coming into possession of an in-depth salary study completed by the university in 2018, the year before she joined UM.

The "Faculty Salary Analysis" report found big pay gaps between men and women. For example, the average converted base salary for non-tenured associate male professors was $215,159 versus $147,239 for similarly situated female professors.

The most significant salary gaps were in the school of medicine's clinical division and the school of music. The clinical male faculty in the medical school were being paid 25 percent more than their female counterparts, the report concluded. In the school of music, male lecturers received a $61,491 salary, whereas their female colleagues made $18,000 less at $43,061 on average.

Across categories of tenure status and teacher ranking, male employees at the university made more than female employees.

These gender-correlated pay disparities occurred among department chairs and deans at the university as well. Based on average base pay, male deans made $403,000, amounting to $110,000 more than female deans earned, according to the study.

Sherman argues the pay gap between male and female UM employees "has continued to date." She cites an American Association of University professors survey that found the average salary for male faculty members was $131,100 versus $108,200 for female faculty members during the 2021-2022 period. (The figure does not account for variables like tenure status or teacher ranking.)

Sherman has video of a "pre-recorded Zoom meeting" with the Frost School of Music dean, which she claims will show that the university pays women less "for purely sexist and stereotypical reasons."

UM has faced similar gender-based pay discrimination allegations in the past. In 2018, Sung Hee Joo, an assistant professor of environmental engineering, sued the university for paying male professors who had the same title and experience thousands more in compensation. A year later, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued UM on behalf of political science professor Louise Davidson Schmich for paying her less than their male counterparts with not as much experience.

Hee Joo's case settled in December 2019 shortly after a judge denied the university's motion for summary judgment.

In Davidson Schmich's case, her claims went to trial in March 2022, and a jury sided with the university. The jurors found the university did not violate the Equal Pay Act, meaning gender did not play a factor in deciding her salary.