Cussler v. University of Maryland

Decision Date14 April 1977
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 72-372-N.
Citation430 F. Supp. 602
PartiesDr. Margaret T. CUSSLER v. The UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND et al.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Maryland

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Sylvia Roberts, Baton Rouge, La. (and Stephen H. Sachs, Ann M. Turnbull and Frank, Bernstein, Conaway & Goldman and Ann F. Hoffman, Baltimore, Md.), for plaintiff.

Francis B. Burch, Atty. Gen. of Maryland, David H. Feldman, Asst. Atty. Gen. of Maryland and Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. and Nell B. Strachan, Baltimore, Md., for defendants.

NORTHROP, Chief Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff, Dr. Margaret T. Cussler, a sociology professor at the College Park Campus of the University of Maryland, filed her original complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that she was denied promotion, salary increases and other beneficial employment conditions on the basis of her sex and in retaliation for her public allegations of sex discrimination. She named as defendants, the University of Maryland and its Board of Regents, Dr. Wilson H. Elkins, President of the University of Maryland, Dr. R. Lee Hornbake, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Charles E. Bishop, Chancellor of the College Park Campus, Dr. Robert A. Ellis, Head of the Department of Sociology, and Dr. Robert K. Hirzel, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology. Subsequently, plaintiff amended her complaint to include an allegation of arbitrary and capricious conduct and a separate claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended March 24, 1972, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. On October 1, 1976, the Court entered an order granting the Board of Regents' motion for summary judgment and the University of Maryland's motion for summary judgment on the issue of damages under section 1983.

The case then proceeded to trial before a jury on November 23, 1976, with the jury to determine the issues of compensatory and punitive damages against the individual defendants under section 1983 and the Court to determine the issues of equitable relief under section 1983 and Title VII. On March 24, 1977, the jury returned a verdict in favor of each of the individual defendants. This memorandum represents the Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law on the issues that remain for the Court's resolution.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff received her Ph.D. degree in 1943 from Radcliffe and Harvard University. Her first term of employment with the University of Maryland began in 1947 at the rank of instructor and continued until 1951 when she left, after attaining the rank of assistant professor, to accept employment with the federal government. In 1954 she returned to the University of Maryland at the rank of instructor after her government position had been eliminated by a personnel reduction. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1956 and to associate professor in 1962. In both 1970 and 1971, the Tenure and Promotion Committee of the department of sociology considered plaintiff's promotion to full professor and unanimously refused to recommend her for promotion.

The University of Maryland is a large state university with approximately 70,000 students and 5,000 faculty members. The University established general criteria and procedures governing promotion of faculty in 1957. In 1969, the sociology department adopted similar departmental standards for promotion, following the general University guidelines. The criteria include teaching ability, service to the University and, most importantly, publications and other scholarly activity. The standards are especially exacting for promotion to full professor since that position is the highest faculty position at the University. Long years of service are, alone, insufficient to warrant promotion. The procedures involve an initial recommendation from the department and subsequent review by administrators, including the Dean of the College in which the department is located, and the President's Office. The University, however, had not established any procedures or guidelines concerning course or committee assignments. These assignments involve an evaluation of factors that are unique to each individual department.

THE TITLE VII CLAIM

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides that:

(a) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer —
(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex or national origin; .... 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a).

Title VII, however, was inapplicable to educational institutions until March 24, 1972, the effective date of the amendment deleting the exemption for educational institutions. Since the 1972 amendments are not retroactive, Title VII does not provide a remedy for discrimination suffered by plaintiff before March 24, 1972. Weise v. Syracuse University, 522 F.2d 397 (2d Cir. 1975).

Since all of the allegations in the complaint concern activities prior to March 24, 1972, defendant, University of Maryland, contends that plaintiff has not alleged any actions for which it may be held liable under Title VII. Plaintiff, however, continued in her employment with the University after March 24, 1972. She therefore may obtain relief under Title VII to remedy the present and continuing effects of discrimination that occurred prior to March 24, 1972. Rackin v. University of Pennsylvania, 386 F.Supp. 992, 1006-07 (E.D.Pa.1974). For the purposes of determining liability, however, the Court will limit its inquiry to acts occurring before April 17, 1972. In the charge of discrimination that plaintiff filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, plaintiff designated April 17, 1972, as the most recent date on which discrimination had occurred.

In McDonnell-Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), the Supreme Court stated that three distinct burdens of proof pertain in a Title VII case. Plaintiff has the initial burden of establishing a prima facie case by showing that:

1. she is a member of a protected class;
2. she applied for and was qualified for a position for which her employer was seeking applicants;
3. despite her qualifications she was rejected; and
4. thereafter the position remained open and the employer continued to seek applicants with plaintiff's qualifications.1

If plaintiff establishes the existence of these four elements, the burden shifts to defendant "to articulate some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the employee's rejection." Id. at 802, 93 S.Ct. at 1824. If defendant fails to meet this burden, plaintiff is entitled to judgment without further proof. If it does satisfy this burden, plaintiff has the burden in phase three of showing that the alleged nondiscriminatory reason was in fact a pretext for discrimination. Id. at 804, 93 S.Ct. 1817.

Promotion

Viewing plaintiff's allegations of discrimination in this context, the Court concludes that she has demonstrated no sex discrimination concerning promotion, salary or other conditions of employment that is cognizable under Title VII. In regard to promotion, the Court finds that there was no sex discrimination involved in the decision not to promote plaintiff to full professor. As the courts repeatedly have noted, promotion decisions in academia necessarily involve matters of professional judgment. Faro v. New York University, 502 F.2d 1229, 1231-32 (2d Cir. 1974); EEOC v. Tufts Institute of Learning, 421 F.Supp. 152, 158 (D.Mass.1975); Peters v. Middlebury College, 409 F.Supp. 857, 868 (D.Vt.1976); Lewis v. Chicago State College, 299 F.Supp. 1357, 1359-60 (N.D.Ill.1969). The courts are, therefore, reluctant to substitute their judgment for the judgment of academics with expertise in their respective fields. Green v. Board of Regents of Texas Tech University, 335 F.Supp. 249, 250 (N.D.Tex. 1971), aff'd 474 F.2d 594 (5th Cir. 1973). These misgivings are intensified in this case by the turmoil prevalent on the College Park Campus generally, and the sociology department particularly, during the early 1970's. In the Spring of 1970, there were student riots protesting the invasion of Cambodia. In addition, there was discord between the faculty and the administration concerning their proper areas of authority. The Department also had its own individualized difficulties. It just had completed a four-year period during which it had operated without a department head. This lack of leadership had increased the difficulties of an already weak department. As of 1970, no one in the department of sociology had been promoted to full professor since 1959. With the arrival of Dr. Ellis in 1970 as the new department head, the sociology department began a serious effort to upgrade the quality of the Department. As part of this effort, the Department hired Dr. Dager from the National Science Foundation, who formerly had been a full professor in the sociology department of Purdue University, a ranked department.2 It is within this factual context that the Court must consider defendant's refusal to promote plaintiff to full professor.

Assuming, arguendo, that plaintiff satisfied her burden of establishing a prima facie case, the Court finds that defendant denied plaintiff's promotion on the basis of legitimate reasons that were not a pretext for sex discrimination. In a letter to Dr. Callcott, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Ellis detailed the reasons for not promoting plaintiff. He cited her reputation for capriciousness in her relationships with students, the poor quality of her publications since her last promotion, and her lack of professionally recognized expertise. These reasons conform to the criteria for promotion established by the University and the sociology department. The criteria emphasize teaching ability, publications and service to the University. The Court...

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24 cases
  • Johnson v. University of Pittsburgh
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania
    • August 1, 1977
    ...of numerous professors, a task for which the court like probably most federal judges was ill suited. The case of Cussler v. University of Md., 430 F.Supp. 602 (D.Md.1977) is another illustration of the problems posed by a case of this kind. Before proceeding with the opinion and discussion,......
  • Smith v. University of North Carolina
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit
    • September 30, 1980
    ...that the University had shown a sufficient nondiscriminatory reason for its decision. See generally, Cussler v. University of Maryland, 430 F.Supp. 602, 606-07 (D.Md. 1977). The same reasons which supported the University's decision not to reappoint justify its decision not promote and gran......
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