Former judge and state senator Karen S. Burstein, president of the New York State Civil Service Commission lectured on "The Debate Over Comparable Worth" in the Villard Room.  “Comparable worth,” a contraction of the concept of “equal pay for work of comparable worth” was an attempt to quantify and remedy inequalities of pay, particularly those generated by a history of “sex-segregated” jobs.

Ms. Burstein worked in the administration of New York Governor Mario Cuomo, as executive director of the State Consumer Protection Board.