A pattern of unfair pay | Morning Newsletter
🐱 And a pet prescription
The Morning Newsletter
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It’s a chilly, stormy Friday, so grab your umbrella.
Rutgers-Camden professors say they are paid less than their main campus counterparts. Our main story looks at continued problems despite adjustments to the system.
— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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🎤 Now I’m passing the mic to our higher education reporter Susan Snyder:
A few years ago, Rutgers University rolled out a process for evaluating cases in which faculty asserted that their pay was not equitable with their colleagues in similar positions.
Daniel Shain, chair of the biology department at Rutgers-Camden, said he earned about $22,000 less than his peers.
It’s part of a pattern, faculty say, of the Rutgers system continuing to unfairly pay professors on the Camden campus as compared to their counterparts on the flagship campus in New Brunswick and in Newark.
The administration acknowledged that the process is complicated and everyone is “learning their way through,” but said about two-thirds of faculty who requested a salary equity evaluation were awarded adjustments.
(A union official argued that some of them were “insultingly low.”) Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway also pointed out that the New Brunswick campus is a Research 1 university, while Newark and Camden are Research II campuses, and that makes a difference for compensation.
Continue reading for a look at the dispute.
Earl D. King, a pulmonologist with Philly ties, is going viral after he “prescribed” his longtime patient “a cat.”
The patient, a 67-year-old woman from Grottoes, Va., found a kitten that same day and named it after her doctor.
Now, their story is spreading after Sipe acted on that advice and shared the good news with her local broadcast station.
Notable quote: “He went the extra mile for me,” Sipe said. “And I hope that everyone can have a doctor in their life just like Dr. King.”
Keep reading to meet Earlene, the three-legged kitten who changed Sipe’s life.
What you should know today
Phillies drop Game 3 to the Diamondbacks in National League Championship Series.
Two of the three men arrested this week for fatally shooting a Philadelphia police officer and wounding another officer during an attempted car theft at the airport last week have been arraigned on charges including murder.
About 100 protesters descended on U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s office in Philadelphia on Thursday, urging him to support a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war as the siege in Gaza ends its second week.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said Thursday he’d change his vote to no on Rep. Jim Jordan’s speakership, shortly before Jordan indicated he wouldn’t seek a third vote and would instead get behind a temporary solution to the House leadership stalemate.
Contract talks between SEPTA and its largest union, Local 234 of the Transport Workers, are “going nowhere fast,” said Brian Pollitt, the union’s president, with little progress despite regular meetings since mid-July.
Burt Young, the actor who played Paulie, Sylvester Stallone’s rough-around-the-edges best friend and brother-in-law in six of the Rocky movies, died on Oct. 8 in Los Angeles, his daughter Anne Morea Steingieser confirmed to the New York Times.
Disgruntled 76ers point guard James Harden missed his second consecutive day of practice on Thursday. The Sixers are saying he is away from the team for a personal matter.
🧠 Trivia time
A famous guitarist sported a Phillies shirt while rocking the Wells Fargo Center this week.
Who was it?
A) Jimmy Page
B) Brian May
C) Carlos Santana
D) Slash
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
❄️ Monitoring: The winter outlook for Philly and the U.S. East Coast.
🎧 Listening to: Bad Bunny’s new album and this cool reference to the Phillies.
🎬 Attending: The 32nd annual Philadelphia Film Festival.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: Walk over the Delaware
HEEP OWN
We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Email us if you know the answer. Cheers to Sol Bress who correctly guessed Thursday’s answer: Broad Street Line.
Photo of the day
Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you again on Sunday with the morning news digest.