MIT women faculty equity study (Hopkins/Birgeneau, late 1990s)

Used as a non-engineering application of the scientific method (collect the data, test the hypothesis, draw the conclusion, act on it). Also as a case study in how committee dynamics resist data collection that might surface uncomfortable answers.

Let's go back to one I mentioned to you. Nancy Hopkins, a professor of biology, complained to Bob Birgeneau, who was Dean of Science here 20 years ago, that some of the women faculty were not treated equally with the male faculty. Bob Birgeneau was receptive, but he wanted to collect the data. He found out what the salaries of the women were in the School of Science professors, what their office space was in square feet, what was their graduate student space. He had the data, and she was right. So what did he do about it? He corrected it. The next year they all got big raises to bring them up equal to the males in the department.