Green v. Board of Regents of Texas Tech University, 72-1542.
| Decision Date | 09 May 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 72-1542.,72-1542. |
| Parties | Lola Beth GREEN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BOARD OF REGENTS OF TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Buford C. Terrell, Lubbock, Tex., for plaintiff-appellant.
Sylvia Roberts, Baton Rouge, La., amicus curiae.
Crawford Martin, Atty. Gen. of Tex., W. O. Shultz, II, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., Carlton Dodson, Resident Counsel, Lubbock, Tex., Nola White, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., James H. Milam, Lubbock, Tex., for defendants-appellees.
Before JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge, and MOORE* and RONEY, Circuit Judges.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied May 9, 1973.
Dr. Lola Beth Green, Associate Professor of English at Texas Tech University, claims that she was refused promotion to the rank of full professor because of her sex. She sued the Board of Regents of Texas Tech University for damages under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983. The District Court, 335 F.Supp. 249, concluding from the evidence that the decision not to promote plaintiff was based entirely on considerations other than her sex, denied relief. We affirm on the ground that the trial judge's findings of fact are not clearly erroneous.
Dr. Green has taught at Texas Tech University since 1946, except for her absence during 1951-1953 when she worked on her doctorate. First a temporary instructor, she was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1953 and to Associate Professor in 1959. In the 1969-1970 academic year, she made timely application to the University for promotion. When denied, she complied with the appropriate administrative procedure. This action was brought when the Board of Regents refused to grant the promotion.
The District Court held an evidentiary hearing on both the merits of her claim and the administrative procedure through which plaintiff's application was processed. A diagram of the procedure is as follows:
HEAD OF THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
(All professors of the English Department consider and vote upon the application and may submit statements to the Head of the Department.)
DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
(Six-member Promotions and Tenure Committee of the Department of Arts and Sciences considers and votes upon the application to advise the Dean.)
GRADUATE DEAN VICE PRESIDENT OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS PRESIDENT OF TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY TENURE AND PRIVILEGE COMMITTEE OF TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
Only at the first stage did Dr. Green's application receive favorable consideration. Although her prior applications had failed to receive majority support from her own department, in 1969 plaintiff's colleagues in the English Department voted 5 to 3 in favor of her promotion. Thereafter, at every level of review, Dr. Green's application received a unanimous negative response.
At each stage of the procedure, questions unrelated to Dr. Green's sex were raised regarding her qualifications as to teaching ability, scholarship, and university and community service. Professors and administrators at all levels of the review testified before the District Court as to their opinions of Dr. Green's work and ability which led to a denial of the promotion. There would be no value in recounting this testimony. Even at the first stage, where her application obtained a majority for approval, two faculty members in the minority testified that Dr. Green was deficient in both teaching and research as evidenced, in their opinions, by students' complaints about her teaching, the disinclination of graduate...
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