Townes Hall, University of Texas at Austin School of Law. (Courtesy photo)
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The University of Texas at Austin School of Law can't seem to shake allegations of unfairness in faculty pay, which have dogged the campus for nearly a decade.

Linda Mullenix. (Courtesy photo)

Professor Linda Mullenix sued the school in federal court on Dec. 12 claiming she is paid significantly less than men on the faculty with comparable experience. That action comes nine years after Mullenix's first pay discrimination suit against the school and eight years after the law school's former dean departed under pressure due to the controversial practice of using funds from the law school's foundation for forgivable loans to certain faculty members. (The $5.4 million in loans were made almost exclusively to male professors and the university ended the practice in 2011, concluding it lacked proper oversight.)

Mullenix's latest suit against the school alleges that administrators have purposefully held down her annual raises in retaliation for her earlier complaints about pay disparities along gender lines. Her suit alleges that she earned $20,000 less than a professor who also teaches civil procedure and who has about 10 fewer years of teaching experience. Moreover, it claims that tenured female faculty members at the law schools earned, on average, $20,000 less than tenured men during the past three years.