LAF Adopts Two New Cases This Fall

L.R. v. The Trustees of Princeton University

L.R., a former assistant clinical professor in the chemical engineering department at Princeton University, sued for sex discrimination in the denial of tenure, retaliation, and other claims under New Jersey state law. L.R. claims that although her teaching, scholarship, and service were excellent, the chair of the department exaggerated and misrepresented complaints made about her from a handful of students and encouraged the voting faculty to give those complaints significant weight in the tenure decision. Only two of 20 faculty in the chemical engineering department are women.

>> Read the full case summary for L.R.

Nash v. Ray L. Belton and the Southern University System

Beverly Ann Nash, former vice chancellor of student affairs and assistant professor of education at Southern University at Shreveport, Louisiana (SUSLA), has sued the university for retaliation in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, among other claims. Nash claims that in the months following her appointment in 2002 at least five women came to her with allegations that they were sexually harassed by male SUSLA police officers. Nash brought these allegations to the attention of the chancellor of SUSLA and also filed written reprimands regarding two specific police officers on behalf of the women. In July 2002, Nash was notified that SUSLA intended to renew her contract in both her administrative and faculty positions, however, in October 2002 without prior warning, Nash was relieved of her administrative position and reassigned solely to her faculty position, effective immediately.

>> Read the full case summary for Nash.

Claims of “Lack of Collegiality” Used to Mask Sex Discrimination in New AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund-Supported Case

“Sex discrimination that is covered-up by claims of lack of collegiality is still sex discrimination.” – Leslie T. Annexstein, director, AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund

Washington – The concept of “collegiality” – the idea of cooperation and collaboration among colleagues in college and university faculties – is being scrutinized as a guise for sex discrimination in a new case adopted by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Legal Advocacy Fund.

“Of all of the criteria that universities may use in evaluating the performance of women faculty, the use of collegiality as a criterion in employment decisions has too easily become a mask for sex discrimination,” said Leslie T. Annexstein, director of the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund.

“The use of highly subjective criteria – such as collegiality – thwarts the ability of talented and credentialed academic women to enter the male-dominated ranks of higher education,” added Annexstein.

Batya Weinbaum, a former assistant professor in the English department at Cleveland State University (CSU) in Ohio, sued the university for sex discrimination in her treatment and the decision to terminate her in violation of Ohio state laws.

Weinbaum began her employment at CSU in 1998 as a tenure-track assistant professor. She claims that at the time of her hire, CSU officials promised her certain benefits such as a part-time graduate assistant, office space, and technical equipment to support her work on a feminist journal.

However, Weinbaum alleges that the university initially failed to fulfill all of these promises. Worse, she maintains that although her scholarship, service, and teaching were well above average - and often outpacing her colleagues- she continually faced harassment and disparate treatment from her male department chair, including exclusion from committees and the withholding of pertinent information.

The situation came to a crisis point in her fourth-year review, when the department’s peer review committee commended her on her scholarship and teaching, but questioned her potential for providing service to CSU’s community based on its assessment of her inability to work with others in her department. As a result of the assessment, the committee ultimately recommended that she not be reappointed.

Weinbaum claims that her chairperson and members of her peer review committee went so far as to solicit letters from people who disliked her to help base their decisions on immaterial subjective personal and interpersonal matters rather than empirical fact. Her claims are bolstered by the results of her union appeal, where it was determined that university officials committed procedural irregularities when conducting Weinbaum’s review and treated her in a manner demeaning to her gender.

“Batya Weinbaum’s experience is representative of many cases we have seen where academic women have been halted in their careers because of their purported lack of collegiality,” said Annexstein.

“Unfortunately, gender stereotypes persist, and Weinbaum’s personality did not fit into her colleagues’ view of how a female professor should act. However, sex discrimination that is covered-up by claims of lack of collegiality is still sex discrimination,” Annexstein concluded.

Weinbaum filed her case in the State of Ohio Court of Claims in 2004. The case is in discovery. She has been awarded an initial $5,000 from the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund to support her case.

A full case summary is available at http://www.aauw.org/laf/cases/weinbaum.cfm
Learn more about tenure issues from the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund by visiting http://www.aauw.org/laf/library/tenure.cfm