The Miscellany News: Court preliminarily approves pay discrimination settlement

October 30. 2026

Vassar College student newspaper, The Miscellany News, interviewed ERA Litigation Director Catherine Bendor for an article about ERA’s and Lieff Cabraser’s class action equal pay lawsuit against Vassar on behalf of 84 women professors.

“The preliminary approval was encouraging, and we expect that there will be a full resolution,” said Catherine Bendor, the litigation director at Equal Rights Advocates and co-counsel for the professors. “I think the terms of this settlement are very positive for the class members and of course our named plaintiffs, the five professors who were involved in the case from its inception,” Bendor said. …

“The monetary relief is very significant and what are called injunctive provisions—the non-monetary provisions—we hope will make a significant impact going forward in preventing gender-based pay discrimination at Vassar College,” Bendor explained. …

The professors’ lawyers hope this agreement will reach beyond this campus. “I do think this settlement is a message to universities everywhere,” Bendor commented. “You cannot let pay inequity stand.”

Read the full article.