5th Minnesota State College to settle pay bias. (Newswatch).

A group of 324 female faculty members at Minnesota State University at Mankato will share $500,000, which the school agreed to pay to settle a class action suit claiming that they were paid less than comparable males.

In addition, 38 current female faculty members would receive pay raises totaling $146,000 to settle the 1998 suit.

Although some faculty members are happy with the settlement, for many it is way too few dollars and way too late. Each of the 324 women would receive $107 for each year worked, a pittance compared to the salary lost due to discrimination. Dr. Sue Burum, the political science professor who was the original plaintiff, will receive an extra $15,000.

One not thrilled with the settlement is Dr. Barbara Keating, a sociology professor at Mankato for 21 years. "On the one hand, I'm glad it's over," she said, but "I don't think the settlement was adequate." She will receive $2,000 in back pay but no raise, due to a statistical analysis.

"I really needed that money in the 80s... Now my children are raised, I'm out of debt and I don't need it," she said. She would like an apology from the university for ...