Alexander v. OHIO STATE UNIV. COL. OF SOCIAL WORK

• Decision Date: 12 March 2010
• Docket Number: Case No. 2:07-cv-1116.
• Citation: 697 F. Supp.2d 831
• Parties: Rudolph ALEXANDER, Plaintiff, v. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

697 F. Supp.2d 831

Rudolph ALEXANDER, Plaintiff, v. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK, et al., Defendants.

Case No. 2:07-cv-1116.

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Eastern Division.

March 12, 2010.

Rayl L. Stepter, Columbus, OH, for Plaintiff.

Jack Wilson Decker, Drew Corner Piersall, Ohio Attorney General's Office, Columbus, OH, Marc E. Dann, Cleveland, OH, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

GEORGE C. SMITH, District Judge.

Plaintiff Dr. Rudolph Alexander brings this action against Defendants The Ohio State University College of Social Work, Lawrence Lewellen, William Meezan, and The Ohio State University (collectively "Defendants") pursuant to Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff asserts claims of race discrimination, retaliation, and violation of his civil rights.¹ Defendants now move for summary judgment and/or qualified immunity on Plaintiff's claims (Doc. 55). Plaintiff has responded, and this matter is now ripe for review. For the reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment.

As a preliminary matter, Plaintiff recently filed a Motion for Leave to File a Supplemental Affidavit (Doc. 71). Defendants oppose Plaintiff's Motion. The Court, however, finds that Plaintiff is simply clarifying information submitted in his first affidavit, and there is no prejudice to Defendants. Accordingly, Plaintiff's Motion is GRANTED.

I. FACTS

Plaintiff is an African-American citizen of the State of Ohio, employed by Defendant Ohio State University as a tenured professor of Social Work at the College of Social Work. The College of Social Work is a college within The Ohio State University. Defendants The Ohio State University and the College of Social Work are governmental units of the State of Ohio. Defendant Lewellen is the Associate Vice President for Human Resources of The Ohio State University. Defendant Meezan is the Dean of the College of Social Work. The College of Social Work employs approximately 6 full professors, 12 associate professors, and 6 assistant professors.

Plaintiff began working as an assistant professor on September 1, 1989. Plaintiff's negotiated salary when he began was approximately $31,500.00, which Dean Richard Boettcher told him was comparable to other similarly situated professors, and the maximum that could be paid. Approximately three years later, Plaintiff learned that Dean Boettcher offered a higher salary to a female professor, Dr. Julia, who started the same year as Plaintiff. Plaintiff raised this issue with the Dean, and an adjustment was made to his salary to account for the discrepancy.

Plaintiff worked his way up through the ranks of the faculty at the College of Social Work. Plaintiff obtained tenure in 1995. During his employment, Plaintiff describes that he has published books, articles, given presentations, has been very involved in the community and received awards. Plaintiff was appointed as Director of the Bachelor of Science and Social Work Program in 2000. In that capacity, he administered the social work undergraduate program.

The majority of Plaintiff's problem began to arise after Dean Meezan was hired as the Dean of the College of Social Work in July 2005.² Two weeks after Defendant Meezan became Dean of the College of Social Work, he suggested that students should sign a pledge when entering the college that would support the National Association of Social Workers' ("NASW") Code of Ethics. Defendant Meezan suggested this as a "rite of passage" into the professional social work community. (Meezan Dep. I at 14-19). The NASW code binds all social workers in their professional practice and addresses how minority groups, including homosexuals, are to be treated. (Meezan Dep. I at 15; Alexander Dep. I at 15-20). Plaintiff took issue with this pledge and apprised the Dean that enforcing such a pledge may raise religious objections. Id. Plaintiff also surmised that some students would possibly file complaints and/or pursue legal action as a violation of their civil rights. Id.

Plaintiff suggested that the Dean consult with OSU's legal department prior to enacting the pledge requirement. Id. Dean Meezan has denied that the pledge was one of forcing students to accept homosexuality and instead stated that it was merely to insure compliance with the Code of Social Workers. Plaintiff emphasizes that Dean Meezan is gay and has admitted so publicly. (Meezan Dep. I at 9). Plaintiff further states that the signing of the pledge has never been implemented. (Alexander Dep. I at 22).

In 2005, Plaintiff was informed that several female professors were given extra pay that they did not earn by Dean Tripodi. Plaintiff, remembering that there was prior pay discrimination on the basis of gender, sought records regarding the salaries of all the faculty members at the College. (Alexander Dep. I at 24). Plaintiff describes that Dean Meezan was upset with Plaintiff for requesting this information and told him so. (Alexander Dep. I at 24-25). Plaintiff was denied the information because OSU's legal department had apprised the Dean that it did not need to provide the information to Plaintiff. Although he still believed that he was discriminated against, Plaintiff dropped the matter. (Alexander Dep. I at 27).

Plaintiff alleges that as a result of his request for the aforementioned information, Dean Meezan began engaging in race discrimination and retaliation around March 2006. Plaintiff was asked to resign from his Director's position of the Bachelor of Science and Social Work Program which he had held since 2000. Plaintiff asserts that when Dean Meezan began in July 2005, he asked him to remain as the director for two more years. (Alexander Dep. I at 36-37). However, Dean Meezan states that he asked Dr. Alexander to "see me through my transition," but never put a time frame on this expectation. (Meezan Dep. I at 145).

Plaintiff claims that there had been no prior warning of performance problems. Pursuant to the Ohio State University's Office of Academic Affairs Policies and Procedures Handbook, Volume 2, pg. 84, a professor is to be provided with prior written notice of performance deficiencies, so as to permit them the opportunity to rectify the situation. (Handbook attached as Exhibit 1 to Pl.'s Memo.). There are no records documenting any performance problems by Plaintiff. However, Plaintiff did have a "task sheet," that included developing new courses for the program, adding an interdisciplinary minors program (e.g. in social justice), and developing an honors program. (Alexander Dep. I at 37-40). Plaintiff made very little progress in these areas. According to Defendants, Dean Meezan's decision to ask Plaintiff to step down was motivated by his failure to make significant progress on the above tasks, his passivity, lack of commitment to the directorship; breach of confidence; and refusal to attend the evening of recognition graduation ceremony. (Meezan Dep. I at 190-191; Meezan Aff. at ¶ 2; Alexander Dep. I at 34-35, 44-45, 74-75, and 143).

Dr. Jacqueline Monroe, an African-American female, was appointed as the Director of the Bachelor of Science and Social Work Program, replacing Plaintiff. Plaintiff maintains that her selection was a mere contrivance to defeat his race discrimination claim and that Dean Meezan improperly induced her to take the job by offering her an extra $5000 to cover her child care expenses. (Alexander Dep. II at 13-15). However, according to Dr. Monroe, she did not receive any additional compensation other than the 2/9 salary stipend that comes with administrative responsibilities. (Monroe Dep. at 25-30).

Plaintiff alleges that additional discrimination and retaliation occurred during the 2006 annual evaluation when Dean Meezan gave Plaintiff a 1.5% raise, the lowest among the approximately 25 professors in the college. During the evaluation process, teaching faculty receive ratings of no merit, merit, or extra merit in the areas of research/scholarship, teaching and service. In-between ratings of partial merit, merit plus or extra merit minus are also possible. Ratings are based on the written dossier submitted by faculty, which includes a resume and supporting documentation. If no dossier is submitted, a faculty member does not receive a raise.

Dean Meezan met with Dr. Alexander in May 2006 to discuss this evaluation and had an "intense discussion." (Alexander Dep. I at 77-78, 91-92). Although during the meeting, Plaintiff was informed he would receive partial merit in the area of scholarship, Dean Meezan permitted Plaintiff to supplement his dossier and increased his score to merit. (Meezan Dep. I at 89-90; Alexander Dep. I at 90). In June 2006, Plaintiff received a letter from Dean Meezan notifying him that he received a rating of merit in scholarship, teaching and service, and a rating of partial merit in administration. (Meezan Dep. I at 188-89; Alexander Dep. I at 90, 105). The 1.5% annual raise was based on this rating. Plaintiff expressed his outrage over this minimal raise by calling the Dean a "liar," and stating "You can expect a response from me for your racist behaviors, both legal and personal." (Alexander Dep. I at 100-01).

In September 2006, the Office of Human Resources developed a climate survey to gauge how Dean Meezan was doing as an administrator and to assist the college in it strategic planning process. As part of his investigation of discrimination, Plaintiff requested the results of the survey, but was informed he would have to wait until mid-November for the individual surveys and unredacted written comments. However, on November 21, 2006, Plaintiff was informed by Mr. Lewellen that the survey results had been destroyed.³ The survey results were then produced to Plaintiff, but Plaintiff believes they were altered.

On September 4th and 14th, 2006, Plaintiff complained to Ohio State's Provost Office accusing Dean Meezan in engaging in "invidious, blatant and...