Adelman-Reyes v. Saint Xavier University

• Decision Date: 14 September 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-2284.,06-2284.
• Citation: 500 F.3d 662
• Parties: Sharon ADELMAN-REYES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY and Beverly Gulley, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

500 F.3d 662

Sharon ADELMAN-REYES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY and Beverly Gulley, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 06-2284.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued November 27, 2006.

Decided September 14, 2007.

Sally A. Piefer (argued), Schroeder Group, Waukesha, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Donald J. McNeil (argued), Barnes & Thornburg, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and ROVNER and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

SYKES, Circuit Judge.

Sharon Adelman-Reyes filed suit in federal court alleging her former employer, Saint Xavier University ("University"), denied her tenure because of her Jewish faith in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2. Adelman-Reyes also alleged that the dean of the University's School of Education tortiously interfered with her prospective employment at the University by writing a negative tenure recommendation letter. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants. Adelman-Reyes appeals, and we affirm.

I. Background

In 1998 Adelman-Reyes accepted a faculty position in the School of Education at Saint Xavier University in Chicago. Beverly Gulley, the dean of the School of Education, recommended Adelman-Reyes be hired and served as her supervisor. Initially Adelman-Reyes split her time between administrative duties as the Coordinator of Urban Initiatives and a teaching position in the English-as-a-Second-Language ("ESL")/Bilingual program. In 2001 she received a tenure-track teaching position, and in 2002 she applied for an associate professor position. Gulley wrote a letter to the University Rank & Tenure Committee supporting Adelman-Reyes's application, and in March 2003 Adelman-Reyes was promoted to associate professor. Shortly thereafter, Gulley formally evaluated Adelman-Reyes for the first time, and in the evaluation suggested she "attend service functions that support the School [of Education] and University from time to time."

Adelman-Reyes applied for tenure in the fall of 2003, triggering the University's tenure evaluation process. At St. Xavier, a tenure candidate's dossier is first evaluated by the candidate's college Rank & Tenure Committee, which makes a recommendation to the college dean for review. The dean, in turn, prepares a recommendation letter to the University Rank &amp Tenure Committee ("University Committee"). The dean's recommendation, along with the candidate's dossier, is forwarded to the University Committee for consideration and decision. The University Committee's decision is then sent to the Vice President of Academic Affairs, who makes a recommendation to the President, who formally confers or denies tenure.

In this instance, the School of Education Rank & Tenure Committee ("SOE Committee") recommended Adelman-Reyes receive tenure, rating her teaching as "good," her scholarship as "excellent," and her service to the School of Education and the University as "good." This information was forwarded to Gulley. At this point in the process, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Christopher Chalokwu, met with Gulley to discuss Adelman-Reyes's tenure application. Chalokwu perceived a personality conflict between Gulley and Adelman-Reyes and warned Gulley not to make the tenure process political. During this conversation, Gulley told Chalokwu that Adelman-Reyes missed "work or other University events due to the celebration of Jewish holidays."

Gulley ultimately recommended against tenure. Her formal letter to the University Committee rated Adelman-Reyes's teaching as "good," her scholarship and professional development as "very good," and her service as "fair." Gulley commented negatively about Adelman-Reyes's service on committees and mentioned negative student comments Adelman-Reyes had received in previous years. Gulley also cited declining enrollment trends in the ESL/Bilingual program, although Adelman-Reyes had no direct responsibility for program enrollment or marketing.

After reviewing Adelman-Reyes's tenure dossier, the SOE Committee's positive recommendation, and Gulley's negative recommendation, the University Committee rated Adelman-Reyes's teaching as "fair," her scholarship and professional development as "good," and her service as "good." The University Committee recommended Adelman-Reyes not receive tenure; Chalokwu and the President agreed. Muhammad Chishty, a University Committee member, characterized the deliberations on Adelman-Reyes's tenure application as considerable, extremely emotional, and heated. Chishty also told Adelman-Reyes that Gulley's negative recommendation weighed heavily in the University Committee's decision to deny tenure. This is consistent with Chalokwu's statement that a dean's recommendation on tenure is ordinarily "very central" and "very crucial" to the tenure process.

Adelman-Reyes filed a formal grievance with the University challenging the denial of her tenure application. She alleged that Gulley discriminated against her because of her "strong advocacy stance for educational equity via bilingual education and [her] subsequent attempts to bring the content of the ESL/Bilingual Approval Program out of the margins and into the mainstream of the School of Education." Significantly, Adelman-Reyes did not allege discrimination on account of her religion. The faculty grievance committee concluded that Gulley's letter contained some unsupported assertions regarding Adelman-Reyes's qualifications for tenure; nevertheless, a formal hearing committee, which included one member selected by Adelman-Reyes, voted 2-1 to uphold the denial of tenure. The President in turn upheld this decision.

Adelman-Reyes then filed suit against the University and Gulley, and for the first time, accused the University of religious discrimination under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2. The district court, granting the University's motion for summary judgment, held that Adelman-Reyes failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination and failed to show that the University's reasons for denying tenure were pretextual. The district court also granted Gulley's motion for summary judgment on Adelman-Reyes's tortious interference claim because Adelman-Reyes did not raise any facts from which a reasonable jury could infer that Gulley acted with the state of mind required for this claim.

II. Analysis

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, "construing all facts, and drawing all reasonable inferences from those facts" in favor of Adelman-Reyes. Peele v. Country Mut. Ins. Co., 288 F.3d 319, 326 (7th Cir.2002). Summary judgment is appropriate "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c). "[T]o avoid summary judgment, the nonmovant bears the burden of setting forth `specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.'" Vanasco v. Nat'l-Louis Univ., 137 F.3d 962, 965 (7th Cir.1998) (quoting FED. R. CIV. P. 56(e)).

A. Religious Discrimination Claim

Adelman-Reyes presents her Title VII religious discrimination claim under the McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), indirect burden-shifting method of proof. She therefore has the initial burden to establish a prima facie case of discrimination by showing (1) she is a member of a protected class, (2) she was qualified for tenure, (3) she was denied tenure, and (4) a similarly situated applicant not in the protected class was granted tenure. Namenwirth v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. of Wis. Sys., 769 F.2d 1235, 1240 (7th Cir.1985). If she establishes a prima facie case,¹ the burden shifts to the University to offer a nondiscriminatory reason for denying Adelman-Reyes tenure. If the University does so, the burden shifts back to Adelman-Reyes to submit evidence that the University's proffered explanation is a pretext for religious discrimination.

The prima facie case and pretext inquiries often overlap; we may skip the analysis of a plaintiff's prima facie case and proceed directly to the evaluation of pretext if the defendant offers a nondiscriminatory explanation for its employment decision. Abioye v. Sundstrand Corp., 164 F.3d 364, 368 (7th Cir.1998). We find it unnecessary here to evaluate whether Adelman-Reyes established a prima facie case.² The University has said it denied tenure because Adelman-Reyes did not show promise of continued contribution to the intellectual life of the University. This is a nondiscriminatory explanation, and Adelman-Reyes has not submitted evidence to create a triable issue as to whether this reason is a pretext for discrimination on account of her religion.

Important for the pretext analysis in this case, Adelman-Reyes does not claim the President or any member of the University Committee was motivated by religious bias in denying her tenure application—she claims only that Gulley was so motivated.³ Accordingly, we will focus our attention on whether Adelman-Reyes has come forward with sufficient evidence to create a factual dispute on whether Gulley's reasons for recommending against tenure were pretextual.

"A pretext . . . is a deliberate falsehood." Forrester v. Rauland-Borg Corp., 453 F.3d 416, 419 (7th Cir.2006). To show pretext, Adelman-Reyes must establish "`by a preponderance of the evidence that the legitimate reasons offered by . . . [the University, i.e., Gulley] were not its true reasons, but were a pretext for discrimination.'" Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 143, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000) (quoting Tex. Dep't of Cmty. Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 253, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981)). Gulley recommended against tenure because of Adelman-Reyes's lack of service on School...