SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- More than 200 Syracuse University professors took out a full-page advertisement in the student newspaper calling on the administration to close the gender wage gap.

The message, signed by about 210 people, around 15 anonymously, appeared in The Daily Orange earlier this week.

"This will either be a crisis of major proportions or open a window of opportunity for Syracuse University to show itself as the model and leader that it is," the professors wrote.

Their message was a response to the findings of the university's Faculty Salary Report, announced in December 2017, and the subsequent measures administrators have taken.

The report found inequities in wages among men and women professors. According to The Daily Orange, the study found that women faculty at SU sometimes earn as little as 77 cents on the dollar compared to their male peers.

After the report was completed, SU Provost Michele Wheatly asked deans to remedy the issue.

According to the professors' message, deans were allotted additional funds to close the gap. Yet professors called on the university to do more, and play a more active role in overseeing how individual schools within the university distribute the funds.

An SU administrator confirmed in a statement that the university was funding "equity adjustments" to help close the gap over the next year.

In the statement, LaVonda Reed, associate provost for faculty affairs, said the provost's office was taking other steps to address the problem, including offering bias training for deans and hiring additional staff to work on the issue.

The professors in the advertisement said they are grateful the university commissioned the report, and that the provost is taking action.

They expressed concerns about the approach. Individual deans, they said, aren't equipped to fix the problem. The letter specifically expressed disappointment with two unnamed deans who "have already signaled an unwillingness" to be "self-critical" and do the work of closing the gap.

"...The gender gap at Syracuse University grows out of a set of biases that are systemic, institutionalized, and deeply ingrained, as they are in the rest of the culture," the letter reads. "We strongly recommend the university administration exercise oversight over this process to make sure this discrimination is addressed systematically and fairly."

Public Affairs Reporter Julie McMahon covers courts, government and other issues affecting taxpayers. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992