Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty sends petition to the Office of the Dean

Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

The Coalition for Advocacy for Non-Tenure Track Faculty Equity (CANE) wrote a letter on Jan. 12 calling for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Bloomberg School) Office of the Dean to address the increasing salary inequity between tenure track (TT) and non-tenure track (NTT) faculty salaries. At the time of this article, 224 Bloomberg School faculty members have added their signatures.

According to the letter, tenure and non-tenure track Bloomberg School faculty both received a letter in July 2023 informing them that they would receive a pay increase, with tenured faculty receiving higher pay than non-tenured faculty by 8%. The coalition claims that, in December 2023, tenured faculty again received a higher salary increase. Although the exact percentage difference in December is uncertain, CANE estimates that the pay gap between tenured and non-tenured faculty increased by 7–15% in five months.

Anna Kalbarczyk, an assistant scientist at the Bloomberg School, delivered the letter and petition to the University administration on behalf of CANE on Jan. 29. In an email to The News-Letter, Kalbarczyk discussed the problem that the pay gap poses to the University’s strategic framework.

“These raises to TT faculty were tagged as part of the JHU President’s Ten for One [italics added] Initiative so it raises the question of why NTT faculty weren’t seen as important enough to target to ‘ensure that the levels of compensation and professional support enjoyed by our faculty are competitive with those offered in comparable peer programs,’” she said.

The University announced the Ten for One Strategic Framework last April. The new framework outlines 10 goals that the University aims to achieve by 2030. Goal four aims to “retain, recruit, and inspire” Hopkins faculty and staff. It promises a commitment to increase compensation in departments and programs that the University believes are lagging behind peer institutions. According to the letter, this widened pay gap and lack of response from the administration have affected non-tenured faculty morale which could later on affect productivity and faculty retention. 

According to CANE, many non-tenure track faculty members take on roles similar to those of tenure track faculty and are more diverse across gender, race and ethnicity. As a result, the coalition accuses the University of undermining its own goals for inclusion, diversity, anti-racism and equity.

Kalbarczyk explained the actions taken so far regarding the points made in the letter.

“These issues have been repeatedly raised with [Bloomberg School] leadership directly and through [the] faculty senate. More progress is needed,” she said.