Fisher v. Vassar College

Citation852 F. Supp. 1193
Decision Date30 June 1994
Docket NumberNo. 87 Civ. 4777 (CBM).,87 Civ. 4777 (CBM).
PartiesCynthia J. FISHER, Plaintiff, v. VASSAR COLLEGE, Defendant.
CourtU.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

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Eleanor Jackson Piel, New York City, for plaintiff.

Anderson, Banks, Curran & Donoghue by Maurice Curran, James P. Drohan, Mount Kisco, NY, for defendant.

OPINION

MOTLEY, District Judge:

Plaintiff's principal claims in this action are that defendant discriminated against her on the basis of sex and age; that defendant discriminated against her in the terms and conditions of her employment; and that defendant retaliated against her for bringing this discrimination claim.

A. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff, Dr. Cynthia Fisher, brought this action against Vassar College under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended to apply to Universities in 1972 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.) alleging discrimination against her on account of her gender. The case was tried before the court commencing on June 14, 1993 and was completed on July 2, 1993.

Pursuant to the court's permission during the course of the trial (R. at 2392), plaintiff filed an amended complaint which made the following claims:

1. Plaintiff was discriminated against on account of her sex when she was denied tenure in May of 1985 in that male members of the Biology Department Faculty who had fewer qualifications than plaintiff, both prior and subsequent to her denial of tenure, were granted promotion to Associate Professor rank and tenure;

2. She was discriminated against in the denial of promotion and tenure on account of her status as a married woman;

3. During plaintiff's employment as an Assistant Professor of Biology from 1977 through June 1986, she was paid less in salary than men Biology faculty with similar assignments in violation of Title 29 U.S.C. § 206(d)(1);

4. Plaintiff was discriminated against on account of her age when she was denied promotion and tenure in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. § 623; and

5. Plaintiff suffered retaliation from defendant in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3 in connection with a new position on the Bard College faculty which she secured after leaving Vassar.

Plaintiff seeks monetary damages, reinstatement on the faculty at Vassar with tenure and attorneys' fees and costs.

B. FINDINGS OF FACT

After hearing the evidence and weighing the testimony, exhibits received in evidence and the credibility of the witnesses, the court makes the following findings of fact:

1. Plaintiff, Dr. Cynthia Fisher, is a married woman with two daughters ages 27 and 24. She holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin and Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Zoology from Rutgers University. (R. at 20.) She engaged in post-doctoral studies at Rutgers Medical School from 1963 to 1965. Between 1974 and 1976, she taught biology as a part-time lecturer at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. (Pre-Trial Order, II, E., 1; Exh. 7.)

2. Defendant, Vassar College, is an employer within the meaning of Title 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2.

3. Plaintiff was employed by the defendant from 1977 through 1986 as a member of the Biology Department Faculty. (R. at 22; Exh. 113.)

4. On March 29, 1985, the Vassar College Biology Department senior faculty recommended by letter to the Dean that Dr. Cynthia Fisher be denied promotion and tenure on the grounds that she did not demonstrate "the outstanding quality called for in the `Guidelines for Appointment, Reappointment and Promotion of Faculty at Vassar College' as set forth in the Faculty Handbook." (Pre-Trial Order, II, F., 6; Exh. 8.) The letter was confidential and, therefore, not seen by plaintiff until discovery in this action. (R. at 241.)

5. Dr. Fisher was informed of this decision on March 29, 1985, during a twelve-minute meeting with the Chairman of the Department, Leathem Mehaffey. Although Dr. Mehaffey had been delegated to explain to Dr. Fisher the Department's conclusions and reasons for recommending against tenure, he refused to discuss the Department's decision in any detail. (Exh. 98B.) Dr. Fisher received no further explanation of the Tenure Committee's position from the Biology Department, the Dean, the President or anyone else at Vassar. (Pre-Trial Order, II, F., 6; Exh. 98A-C.)

6. The Departmental letter recommending against promotion and tenure for Dr. Fisher denigrated her scholarship, teaching ability and service; the three criteria considered on review. (Exh. 8.) The negative recommendation was unanimous as were all seven tenure recommendations made by the Department from 1979 to 1985. In 1987, a Dr. Schlessman was recommended for tenure in Biology by a 4-3 vote. (Exh. 24, 29, 32, 36, 39, 43, 117.)

7. Departmental recommendations are forwarded to the Dean and to the Faculty Appointments and Salary Committee (FASC) and each makes an independent recommendation. The Dean and the FASC then meet and compare their recommendations. Afterwards, they meet with the President of the College, who has also made an independent review and come to a final decision. (R. at 1424-25.)

Qualifications for Tenure.

Scholarship.

8. The components of the "scholarship" qualification for tenure include peer-reviewed journal publications, the eminence or rank of the journals in which such publications appear, peer-reviewed extra-mural research grants awarded directly to the investigator (as distinguished from fellowship money), professional consultantships to national research institutions, papers presented at professional meetings with abstracts published, extra-mural research appointments, other in-house grants or fellowships and other lesser components.1 (R. at 839-41, 1113-15, 2196-97; Fallding Dep. at 25-26.)

Publications.

9. At the time of her tenure review, Dr. Fisher had seven peer-reviewed publications: six research papers plus an invited chapter. She also had a completed manuscript which was submitted in her dossier to the Biology Department and was subsequently published. Of these eight papers, three were pre-Vassar, and five were based on work done since she started at Vassar in 1977. She was second author on her first publication, and sole or principal author on all seven subsequent papers, including all five published while at Vassar. These publications were:

Leathem, J.H. and Fisher, C.J., Pregnancy and Protein Nutrition. V Congresso Int. per la Riproduzione Animale e la Fecondazione Artificiale Bol. III: 274-276, 1964.
Fisher, C.J. and Leathem, J.H., Effect of a Protein-free Diet on Protein Metabolism in the Pregnant Rat. Endocrinology 76: 454-462, 1965.
Fisher, C.J. and Stetten, M.R., Parallel Changes in vivo in Microsomal Inorganic Pyrophosphatase, Pyrophosphate-Glucose Phosphotransferase, and Glucose 6-Phosphatase Activities. Biochem. Biophys. Acta 121: 102-109, 1966.
Fisher, C.J. and Sawyer, R.H., The Effect of Triamcinolone on the Development of the Bursa of Fabricius in Chick Embryos. Teratology 22: 7-12, 1980.
Fisher, C.J., Chick Embryos in Shell-less Culture. In: "Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching: Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop/Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE)." Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., Dubuque, Iowa. R. Ecklund, Ed., in Press, 1984.
Fisher, C.J., W.M. O'Guin and R.H. Sawyer. Altered Keratin Biosynthesis Follows Inhibition of Scale Morphogenesis by Hydrocortisone. Developmental Bio. 106: 45-52, 1984.
Fisher, C.J. and R.H. Sawyer. Comparison of Hydrocortisone and Triamcinolone Inhibition on Scale and Feather Development. Teratology 33: 37-45, 1985.
The unpublished manuscript entitled "Vitamin-A-Induced Ptilopody Alters Keratin Biosynthesis," the logic of which was criticized by the Biology Department (Exh. 8) was subsequently published under the authorship and title: Fisher, Knapp and Sawyer, "Retinoic Acid Reticulate Scales." Teratology 38: 321-328, 1988.

(Exh. 7I, BH, 7 IV A, 58E-F, 130A.)

10. The Science Citation Index (S.C.I.), published annually by the Institute for Scientific Information, establishes a standard for grading the importance of professional journals in which scientists' works appear. (R. at 1100-03.) The S.C.I. gives the citations to each author's past articles and the number of citations each year to over 4000 scientific journals published worldwide. The journals are then ranked in an annual volume called the S.C.I. Ranking Index from most-cited (number 1) to least-cited. The top-ranked five percent are those journals ranked from 1 to approximately 200. The frequency of citations of a scholar's work as listed in the S.C.I. and the rank of the journal in which the work was published are key measures of scholarship familiar to scientists and widely used by them. (R. at 1100-1115.) Dr. Fisher was published in some of the most prestigious journals and was more often the first author which is meaningful with regard to credit. (R. at 1109-10, 1113-14; Exh. BH.)

11. Among scientists, the number of citations to an article and the rank of its journal are a combined index of the importance of the work. The court has reviewed relevant pages from the S.C.I. for citations to Drs. Fisher, Hemmes, Mehaffey, Suter (three males) and Norrod (single female) and has further checked, with the help of expert testimony, the total numbers of citations in the S.C.I. to the pre-tenure, peer-reviewed publications of doctoral or post-doctoral research for Dr. Fisher and for Drs. Hemmes, Mehaffey, Suter and Norrod, the four recipients of tenure during the period Dr. Fisher was on the faculty to whose records Dr. Fisher's record must have been compared, as well as for Dr. Mark A. Schlessman, the male who was granted tenure in 1987. The court has made the following comparisons as to these journal publications and their comparative importance. (Exh. 108A, 108BB, 108CB; R. at 218-219, 1103-1115):

a) Dr. Fisher had 50 citations to her
...

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7 cases
  • Fisher v. Vassar College
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
    • 5 de junho de 1997
    ...discriminated against plaintiff Cynthia Fisher in denying her tenure as a professor in its biology department. Fisher v. Vassar College, 852 F.Supp. 1193 (S.D.N.Y.1994). Specifically, the district court found that Vassar discriminated against the plaintiff (i) on the basis of her status as ......
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    ...e.g., Bass v. Chemical Banking Corp., No. 94 Civ. 8833(SHS), 1996 WL 374151, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. July 2, 1996); Fisher v. Vassar College, 852 F.Supp. 1193, 1225–26 (S.D.N.Y.1994), rev'd on other grounds 70 F.3d 1420 (2d Cir.1995); Bryant v. Int'l Schs. Servs., Inc., 675 F.2d 562, 573 n. 18 (3d ......
  • Fisher v. Vassar College, s. 1799
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
    • 14 de dezembro de 1995
    ...Fisher violated provisions of the Equal Pay Act. Based on these findings, recorded in a detailed opinion, see Fisher v. Vassar College, 852 F.Supp. 1193 (S.D.N.Y.1994), the district court directed Vassar to pay an aggregate money judgment of $626,872.12 together with Fisher's attorneys' fee......
  • Boyle v. McCann-Erickson, Inc.
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    • 3 de janeiro de 1997
    ...for a court to infer discrimination, they are not sufficient to satisfy Plaintiff's ultimate burden. Fisher v. Vassar College, 852 F.Supp. 1193, 1231 n. 25 (S.D.N.Y.1994), aff'd, 70 F.3d 1420, 1450-51 (2d Furthermore, the allegedly ageist statements made, must be scrutinized — are they agei......
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2 books & journal articles
  • Table of cases
    • United States
    • James Publishing Practical Law Books Archive Texas Employment Law. Volume 2 - 2016 Part VIII. Selected Litigation Issues
    • 27 de julho de 2016
    ...Fisher v. University of Tex. Med. Branch, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3478, *15 (S.D. Tex. Jan. 19, 2010), §17:2 Fisher v. Vassar College , 852 F. Supp. 1193 (S.D.N.Y. 1994), rev’d on other grounds , 114 F.3d 1332 (2nd Cir. 1997), §§24:3.A.1, 28:9.F.5 Fite v. Cherokee Water Co. , 6 S.W.3d 337 (Te......
  • Table of cases
    • United States
    • James Publishing Practical Law Books Archive Texas Employment Law. Volume 2 - 2014 Part VIII. Selected litigation issues
    • 16 de agosto de 2014
    ...Fisher v. University of Tex. Med. Branch, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3478, *15 (S.D. Tex. Jan. 19, 2010), §17:2 Fisher v. Vassar College , 852 F. Supp. 1193 (S.D.N.Y. 1994), rev’d on other grounds , 114 F.3d 1332 (2nd Cir. 1997), §§24:3.A.1, 28:9.F.5 Fite v. Cherokee Water Co. , 6 S.W.3d 337 (Te......

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