University of Bristol Independent Student Newspaper
www.epigram.org.uk
25th April 2016
Issue 300
Our 300th Issue Epigram: Fares Kammourieh
27 years and 300 issues later, we celebrate
Epigram’s history Page 19
Features Epigram chats to the former Archbishop of Epigram: Fares Kammourieh
Canterbury about Trump, Safe Spaces & more Richard Assheton
Page 6
Letters Sophie Hunter says thank you to Chancellor Baroness Hale
Gender defines pay grade among Bristol Uni staff Ben Parr Investigations Editor Over three quarters of the highest paid staff at the University of Bristol are male, the results of a Freedom of Information request have found. A headcount of staff in the ‘Grade M’ pay scale, the highest earning grade of pay, revealed that of the 468 staff members in this category, only 106 of them are female. The grade of pay for staff members is determined by their job title, with ‘Grade M’ being for senior
professional staff and professors, with salaries starting at £61,431 and rising to over £100,000. Caitlin Flint, President of the Bristol Feminist Society, said that these figures seem to suggest that there is a gender pay gap at the university due the higher number of men in the top grade of pay. Bristol SU’s Equality and Liberation Officer, Jamie Cross, said that the lack of women in the top grade of pay is reflective of an ‘attainment issue’ both within Bristol University specifically but also within the wider Higher Education sector. ‘Professors and other higher pay grade academic staff are predominantly men and this could be due
to the barriers that some women in academia face,’ Cross said. ‘A lot of senior professional staff come from academic backgrounds as well so that could be passed on from the problems faced in academia, although those figures are less easy to interpret.’ In an online Epigram survey about gender differences in tutorial participation, it was found that approximately a third of the respondents who are women claimed to feel ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘very uncomfortable’ speaking up in tutorials, compared with about 10 per cent of men.
Page 14
Flickr / University of Salford Press Office
Music Sam Mason-Jones talks Bieber, Scandanavia and cultural appropriation with Newton Faulkner Page 44
continued on page 3 flickr: Phil King