Colorado Civil Rights Com'n ex rel. Ramos v. The Regents of the University of Colorado

• Court: Colorado Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: QUINN
• Citation: Colorado Civil Rights Com'n ex rel. Ramos v. The Regents of the University of Colorado, 759 P.2d 726 (Colo. 1988)
• Decision Date: 18 July 1988
• Docket Number: 87SC4
• Parties: 47 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 599, 47 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,204, 48 Ed. Law Rep. 992 The COLORADO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION ex rel. Reyes RAMOS, Petitioner, v. THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, a body corporate, Respondent.

Page 726

759 P.2d 726

47 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 599,

47 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,204, 48 Ed. Law Rep. 992

The COLORADO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION ex rel. Reyes RAMOS, Petitioner, v. THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, a body corporate Respondent.

No. 87SC4.

Supreme Court of Colorado En Banc.

July 18, 1988.

Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., Laura E. Udis, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for petitioner.

Rosemary Augustine, Boulder, for respondent.

QUINN, Chief Justice.

The question in this case is whether the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (Commission) has jurisdiction over the Board of Regents of the University of Colorado (Regents) in matters of discriminatory employment practices prohibited by state law. The district court held that the Commission lacked such jurisdiction and thus ordered it to dismiss a complaint filed by Reyes Ramos, an associate professor at the University of Colorado, who alleged that the Regents denied him a tenured appointment on the basis of his national origin or ancestry. We reverse the judgment and remand the case to the district court with directions to return the case to the Commission for further proceedings.

I.

Various constitutional and statutory provisions provide the legal framework for the jurisdictional issue raised here. These provisions relate to the Regents' supervisory authority over the University of Colorado and to the Commission's jurisdiction and authority over matters relating to discriminatory practices in employment. We will initially summarize these pertinent constitutional and statutory provisions and then outline the factual circumstances out of which the jurisdictional issue in this case arises.

A.

The Colorado Constitution provides that the establishment and management of state institutions "shall be subject to the control of the state, under the provisions of the constitution and such laws and regulations as the general assembly may provide." Colo. Const. art. VIII, § 5(1). Article IX, section 12 of the Colorado Constitution establishes the Regents as a "body corporate." The extent of their authority is outlined in article VIII, section 5(2) of the Colorado Constitution as follows:

The governing boards of the state institutions of higher education, whether established by this constitution or by law, shall have the general supervision of their respective institutions and the exclusive control and direction of all funds of and appropriations to their respective institutions, unless otherwise provided by law.

By statute, the General Assembly has acknowledged the Regents' general supervisory authority over the University and their control over University funds and appropriations, § 23-20-111, 9 C.R.S. (1987 Supp.), and also has conferred on the Regents the following general governing powers:

The board of regents shall enact laws for the government of the university; appoint the requisite number of professors, tutors, and all other officers; and determine the salaries of such officers and the amount to be paid for tuition in accordance with the level of appropriations set by the general assembly for the university. It shall remove any officer connected with the university when in its judgment the good of the institution requires it.

§ 23-20-112, 9 C.R.S. (1973). In accordance with their lawmaking authority, the Regents enacted a law requiring that all tenured and other appointments "shall be subject to the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Colorado." Laws of the Regents, art. X, § 1A(1) (June 1986). The Regents' law was in effect at the time of the events underlying the litigation at issue here.

The Commission was formally created in 1979, ch. 239, sec. 3, § 24-34-303, 1979 Colo. Sess. Laws 922, 923, replacing the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission which had been established in 1957, ch. 176, sec. 3, 1957 Colo. Sess. Laws 492, 493. The General Assembly has delegated to the Commission a broad range of powers and duties directed towards the elimination of discriminatory practices based on handicap, race, creed, color, sex, marital status, and national origin or ancestry in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodation, and advertising. The Director of the Civil Rights Division is specifically authorized to investigate any complaint filed by any aggrieved person alleging a discriminatory practice and, if probable cause exists for crediting the allegations, to make efforts to eliminate such practice by conference, conciliation, and persuasion. § 24-34-306(2) and (3), 10 C.R.S. (1982). If satisfied that such efforts will be futile, the director is authorized to report the matter to the Commission, which may then issue a written notice and complaint requiring the respondent to answer the charges at a formal hearing before the Commission, a commissioner, or an administrative law judge. § 24-34-306(4), 10 C.R.S. (1987 Supp.). ¹ If it is found that a respondent has engaged in a discriminatory practice, the Commission is authorized to order the respondent to cease and desist from such discriminatory practice and may also take such other action as specifically authorized by statute. § 24-34-306(9), 10 C.R.S. (1982).

In keeping with the legislative charge to the Commission to eliminate discriminatory practices in employment, the General Assembly has enacted legislation making it a discriminatory employment practice "[f]or an employer to refuse to hire, to discharge, to promote or demote, or to discriminate in matters of compensation against any person otherwise qualified because of handicap, race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry." § 24-34-402(1)(a), 10 C.R.S. (1987 Supp.). ² An employer is defined as follows:

"Employer" means the state of Colorado or any political subdivision, commission, department, institution, or school district thereof, and every other person employing persons within the state; but it does not mean religious organizations or associations, except such organizations or associations supported in whole or in part by money raised by taxation or public borrowing.

§ 24-34-401(3), 10 C.R.S. (1982). For purposes of the Commission's regulatory authority over prohibited discriminatory practices, section 24-34-301(5), 10 C.R.S. (1982), defines "person" to mean "one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, receivers, or the state of Colorado, and all political subdivisions and agencies thereof." If the Commission finds that an employer has engaged in a discriminatory employment practice, it may order the employer to take remedial actions including "affirmative action regarding hiring, reinstatement, or upgrading of employees, with or without back pay." § 24-34-405, 10 C.R.S. (1982).

B.

At the commencement of the 1980-81 academic year, Reyes Ramos was appointed to a four-year term as an associate professor of Chicano studies and education at the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado, and to a three-year term as Director of the Chicano Studies Program. Ramos was reviewed for tenure during the 1982-83 academic year and was notified by letter in May 1983 that he would not be recommended for a tenured appointment.

On November 1, 1983, Ramos filed a complaint with the Commission in which he alleged that he was denied a tenured appointment because of his Hispanic origin or ancestry. The director of the Commission found probable cause that Ramos had been denied tenure due to impermissible discrimination, served the Regents with written notice of the charge, and, pursuant to section 24-34-306(4), 10 C.R.S. (1982), scheduled a hearing before a hearing officer.

The Regents filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on the basis that the Commission lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter. On October 22, 1984, the hearing officer granted the Regents' motion to dismiss, reasoning that subjecting the Regents to the jurisdiction of the Commission would violate article VIII, section 5(2) of the Colorado Constitution which grants the Regents general supervisory authority over the University of Colorado. The Commission, pursuant to section 24-4-105(14), 10 C.R.S. (1982), elected to review the initial decision of the hearing officer. On May 31, 1985, the Commission ruled that it did have jurisdiction over the Regents, stating as follows:

It is apparent from [article VIII, section 5(2) of the Colorado Constitution] that the Regents of the University of Colorado are not granted unfettered authority to operate the university. The constitution clearly imposes limits on that power by subjecting the university to the laws and regulations of the state. It grants the regents exclusive control and direction only with regard to its funds and appropriations. In contrast, the regents are empowered to "generally supervise" the university unless the general assembly has provided otherwise by means of the enactment of a state law. The legislature has enacted such a law, section 24-34-402, C.R.S. (1982), precisely because the eradication of discriminatory employment practices is a matter of statewide concern.

The Commission thus concluded that since "the general assembly has passed a statute regulating the conduct of all employers and has not merely established a code for the functioning of governmental organizations, the regents' general supervision over the university's affairs must yield to the state's authority to impose employment practices statewide." The Commission found further support for its conclusion in article X, section 1A(1) of the Laws of the Regents, which expressly requires that all appointments made by the Regents shall be subject to the constitution and statutes of the state of Colorado.

The Regents filed a complaint in the Denver District Court, seeking judicial review of the Commission's ruling. The district court held that, in light of this court's decision in Associated Students...