Amini v. Oberlin College
| Decision Date | 10 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-3420.,04-3420. |
| Citation | 440 F.3d 350 |
| Parties | Saeid B. AMINI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. OBERLIN COLLEGE, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
ARGUED: Saeid B. Amini, Law Office of Saeid B. Amini, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. Michael J. Frantz, Frantz Ward, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Saeid B. Amini, Law Office of Saeid B. Amini, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. Michael J. Frantz, Michael N Chesney, Frantz Ward, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee.
Before: SILER and GIBBONS, Circuit Judges; LAWSON, District Judge.*
For the second time, plaintiff Saeid B. Amini appeals the dismissal of his civil rights lawsuit. Amini applied for a job as an assistant professor of mathematics at defendant Oberlin College in 1998. He was not hired; in fact, he was not even interviewed for the position. He responded to the rejection by filing a lawsuit in the district court alleging discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, religious affiliation, and age under a variety of federal statutes. The district court dismissed the complaint, and this court reversed in part, remanding the racial discrimination count based on 42 U.S.C. § 1981 for further consideration. Thereafter, the district court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment on that remaining count, which is the subject of the present appeal. We affirm.
The plaintiff is an Iranian-born Muslim who has lived in the United States since 1977. He holds a bachelor of science degree in statistics and information science from the Iranian Institute of Statistics & Information Science, a masters of science degree in applied mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a doctorate degree in statistics from the University of Iowa. While teaching at Case Western Reserve University, he earned masters of business administration and juris doctorate degrees. The plaintiff is admitted to practice law in New York, Florida, and Ohio. He taught over ten years and has an extensive record of publishing his work.
The defendant, Oberlin College, located in Oberlin, Ohio, purports to be an equal opportunity employer, engages in affirmative action hiring, and has a reputation for providing equal opportunities for minorities. In September 1998, Oberlin circulated in journals and on the Internet an advertisement for an assistant professor tenure-track position in the mathematics department to begin in the fall semester of 1999 and lasting a term of four years. The employment notice stated:
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES, OBERLIN COLLEGE
The Department of Mathematics at Oberlin College invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track faculty position in the College of Arts and Sciences. Appointment to this position will be for a term of four years, beginning Fall Semester 1999 and will carry the rank of Assistant Professor.
The incumbent will teach courses in the general area of undergraduate statistics and/or mathematics (5 courses/year). All research specialities in statistics and related fields will be considered. He or she will also be expected to participate in full range of faculty responsibilities, including supervising honors students, academic advising, service on committees, and sustained scholarly research and/or other creative work.
Among the qualifications required for appointment is the Ph.D. degree in Statistics or Mathematics (in hand or expected by August 31, 1999). Candidates must demonstrate interest and potential excellence in undergraduate teaching. Successful teaching experience at the college level is desirable.
To be assured of consideration, letters of application, including a curriculum vitae, graduate and undergraduate academic transcripts, and at least three letters of reference, should be sent to Jeffrey Witmer, Professor of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, 44074, by November 15, 1998. Application materials received after that date may be considered until the position is filled. Salary will depend on qualifications and experience. Oberlin College has admitted women since its founding in 1833 and has been historically a leader in the education of blacks. The Mathematics Department has a strong record of producing students who earn Ph.D. degrees in the mathematical sciences.
J.A. at 206. Department Chairman Michael Henle and Professors of Mathematics Jeffrey Witmer and Robert Bosch formed an informal recruiting and hiring committee for the position.
Amini was unemployed at the time and applied for the position, submitting a cover letter dated October 9, 1998, a short resume, and a version of his full curriculum vitae. The cover letter described the highlights of his teaching experience, awards, and his multidisciplinary work experience, and it disclosed that Case Western Reserve University denied him a tenure position with its medical school. Oberlin sent a letter dated October 14, 1998 informing Amini that his application lacked educational transcripts and three letters of reference. In response, Amini supplemented his application with three letters of reference and one transcript along with a cover letter dated November 23, 1998 offering to provide additional information upon request. The recommendation letters related to the appellant's applications for tenure with Case Western Reserve University and were dated May 14, 1992, May 15, 1995, and September 26, 1996. Oberlin apparently considered the letters deserving of less weight because the applicant sent them unsealed, so they were not "confidential." Oberlin did not pursue the plaintiff's invitation to request additional materials.
Dr. Chris Andrews, the ultimately successful candidate and a former Oberlin College student, contacted Dr. Henle in October of 1998 to demonstrate interest in applying for the open position and to request a letter of recommendation. Dr. Henle already had written a letter of recommendation for Dr. Andrews in connection with a position at another academic institution. Andrews had received a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from Oberlin College, a masters degree in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley, and a doctorate in statistics from Carnegie Mellon University. He had experience teaching at Oberlin College with the texts utilized by the Mathematics department. Completion of a National Science Foundation post-doctoral fellowship distinguished him from his peers. The father of Dr. Andrews had taught as a statistician at Oberlin until taking a position as the college's director of athletics, which created the vacancy for a statistics professor. At the time Dr. Andrews applied for his father's position at Oberlin, he taught at Lafayette College and had not yet completed one semester there.
Dr. Henle added to Dr. Andrews' application file by providing a letter of recommendation. He also testified that he was concerned about complications that Dr. Andrews' application created for the department. He explained:
Q. When he called you, did you in fact encourage him to apply?
A. No. I was, in fact, not particularly happy he applied.
Q. Why not?
A. Because of the — because he had been a student here, his father had taught here.
It just created a more complicated situation around his application, around the normal application. . . .
A. . . . He has outstanding qualifications, in my view. It's just the other issues that involved his application that made me less than pleased that he was applying.
J.A. at 110-11. Henle did not clearly make his feelings known to other professors involved in the hiring decision. He testified:
Q. But you never objected to that in any way?
A. No. I had no right to do that.
Q. Okay. At least in making your concern known to other members of the department?
A. I don't know that we had much discussion of this issue. I mean—I may just have grumbled about it.
Dr. Witmer received ninety-six applications prior to the application deadline. The application of an Hispanic female received his attention, shown by underlining on a letter recommending her. The letter, which is reproduced here with Dr. Witmer's underlining, reads as follows:
Ms. Eleanne Solorzano, who is applying for a position in your department, has requested that I provide a letter of recommendation on her behalf. I am delighted to do so. . . She has a solid background in applied and theoretical statistics. She has also received training in statistical consulting and statistical computing. She has been a very good student.. . . Eleanne's dissertation is in the area of multiple comparisons. . . . Her work extends Dunnett's landmark work for comparing treatments with on control. . . . Her research is going well and I anticipate no difficulty with her completing the dissertation in time for an August 1999 graduation. We have one paper from the dissertation tentatively accepted in the Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation. I anticipate that three other publications will result from her dissertation. Eleanne enjoys research and should be a successful independent researcher. Eleanne also enjoys teaching. . . . The most recent student evaluation of her teaching revealed that 13 students rated her as excellent, 19 as very good, and 3 as good, 0 as fair, and 0 as poor. . . . I have not observed Eleanne as a statistical consultant. However, the combination of her experience as a consultant, her consulting training in our department, and her excellent teamwork skills suggest that she has potential in this area. On the personal side, Eleanne is a pleasant Hispanic lady, who interacts well with others. . . . Though born in Nicaragua, she has been in this country a long time and fits completely into our culture. She is a U.S. citizen....
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