Jiminez v. Mary Washington College

• Decision Date: 09 June 1995
• Docket Number: Nos. 94-1776,94-1802,s. 94-1776
• Citation: 57 F.3d 369
• Parties: 67 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1867, 66 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,614, 64 USLW 2032, 101 Ed. Law Rep. 85 Anthony E. JIMINEZ, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MARY WASHINGTON COLLEGE; Philip Hall, Defendants-Appellants. Anthony E. JIMINEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MARY WASHINGTON COLLEGE; Philip Hall, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 369

57 F.3d 369

67 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1867,

66 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,614, 64 USLW 2032,

101 Ed. Law Rep. 85

Anthony E. JIMINEZ, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MARY WASHINGTON COLLEGE; Philip Hall, Defendants-Appellants.

Anthony E. JIMINEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MARY WASHINGTON COLLEGE; Philip Hall, Defendants-Appellees.

Nos. 94-1776, 94-1802.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued March 8, 1995.

Decided June 9, 1995.

ARGUED: Guy Winston Horsley, Jr., Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of the Atty. Gen., Richmond, VA, for appellants. Sa'ad El-Amin, El-Amin & Crawford, P.C., Richmond, VA, for appellee. ON BRIEF: James S. Gilmore, III, Atty. Gen. of Virginia, Office of the Atty. Gen., Richmond, VA, for appellants.

Before WILKINS and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges, and PHILLIPS, Senior Circuit Judge.

Reversed by published opinion. Judge HAMILTON wrote the opinion, in which Judge WILKINS and Senior Judge PHILLIPS joined.

OPINION

HAMILTON, Circuit Judge:

Anthony Jiminez (Jiminez), a black professor from Trinidad, West Indies, instituted suit pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, see 42 U.S.C.A. Secs. 2000e--2000e-17 (West 1994), and 42 U.S.C.A. Secs. 1981, 1983 (West 1994), against Mary Washington College and Philip Hall (Hall), Vice President of Mary Washington College (collectively MWC), for alleged employment discrimination based on race and national origin. According to Jiminez, he was impermissibly given a terminal contract instead of remaining in a tenure-track teaching position. Following a bench trial, the district court rendered judgment in favor of Jiminez, ruling that he had established a prima facie case of race and national origin discrimination, and he had demonstrated MWC's proffered reason for the adverse action was pretextual and unworthy of credence. MWC appeals, contending that the district court erred in ruling in favor of Jiminez, and Jiminez cross-appeals, asserting that the damages are inadequate. Concluding that the factual findings of the district court are clearly erroneous, we reverse. Given our disposition, Jiminez' cross-appeal is moot.

I.

A.

Jiminez applied for an assistant professorship in the Department of Economics at MWC on March 4, 1989. In connection with his application, Jiminez represented that he would receive his doctorate degree (Ph.D.) in economics in June of 1989 from the University of New Mexico. A divided Economics Department extended Jiminez an offer, even though he was not the most qualified applicant; he only met MWC's minimal standards. The department was split in its decision to offer Jiminez a position since he garnered inauspicious evaluations at the University of New Mexico. Despite this knowledge, MWC offered Jiminez the position because the college was seeking to increase the number of blacks on its faculty. To a degree, therefore, Jiminez was hired because he was black. By letter dated August 3, 1989, William Anderson (Anderson), President of MWC, notified Jiminez of MWC's offer, expressly explaining that Jiminez' appointment was "contingent upon [his] being granted [his Ph.D.] by August 16, 1989." (J.A. at 496). This contingency reflected MWC's policy applicable to Jiminez that professors seeking tenure have terminal degrees, as reflected in the faculty handbook, which provided that for consideration for promotion to assistant professor "[p]ossession of the appropriate earned terminal degree, in most cases, the Doctorate in one's discipline (in unusual circumstances, equivalent professional achievement)" was necessary. Id. at 511. Thus, on extension of the offer, Jiminez was aware that obtaining his Ph.D. was necessary for promotion. In this respect, Jiminez' offer differed from that of his colleague in the Economics Department, Professor Steve Greenlaw (Greenlaw), because according to the 1982 faculty handbook in effect when Greenlaw was hired, attaining a terminal degree was not a prerequisite for advancement. Thus, Greenlaw was given tenure even though he did not obtain a terminal degree until 1986.

As a nontenured professor seeking tenure, Jiminez was subject to a six-year probationary period after which he could be awarded tenure. Consistent with MWC's procedures, Jiminez initially was awarded a one-year contract as a newly-hired, tenure-track faculty member. Subsequent to his initial year, a tenure-track faculty member can be awarded a two-year contract, followed by a three-year contract, provided, of course, his performance satisfied MWC's standards. Following successful completion of the three-year contract, a faculty member could be considered for tenure. If a tenure-track professor is not considered for further advancement because of unsatisfactory performance, however, MWC grants him a one-year terminal contract, which expires at the termination of the academic year.

Tenure is based largely on teacher evaluations. The faculty at MWC is evaluated annually according to three criteria: (1) teaching effectiveness; (2) service to MWC; and (3) scholarship or professional activity. Of these criteria, teaching effectiveness is paramount and is based largely on evaluations from students, the department chairman, and other faculty within the department. Scholarship or professional activity includes publication or presentation of scholarly works.

After his first semester of teaching, MWC evaluated Jiminez' performance on February 22, 1990. This evaluation was a compendium of faculty observations, student course ratings, and the annual Faculty Activities Report. The gist of this initial evaluation was that Jiminez' skills as a professor were lacking, but his personal fortitude was commendable. Specifically with respect to the tenure criteria, this evaluation concluded: (1) Concerning teaching effectiveness, "[s]tudents were critical of the clarity and loudness of his voice, his speaking to the chalk board instead of the class, poorly worded tests, and covering material too fast." These negative conclusions were countered by the generic observation that they were "shortcomings any new teacher is bound to have, and are things easily corrected by experience." Additionally, Jiminez was "praised ... for caring about his students, holding review sessions, encouraging questions, and taking the time to make sure students understood the material." Id. at 512. (2) Regarding service to MWC, Jiminez was rated highly for his participation in college organizations. (3) Respecting scholarship, the evaluation admonished that Jiminez' "major focus for the immediate future must be completion of his dissertation." Id. (emphasis added). Significantly, Jiminez neither protested nor contradicted the initial evaluation's conclusions.

On April 2, 1991, MWC again evaluated Jiminez' performance, this evaluation again being an amalgam of the faculty observations, student course ratings, and the annual Faculty Activities Report. Focusing on the three primary criteria for tenure, this second MWC evaluation concluded: (1) With respect to teaching effectiveness, the evaluation reported that while Jiminez was dedicated, his "student evaluation scores [were] below average for both the [Economics] Department and College-wide faculty," but expressing the hope that time would cure this failure. Id. at 514. (2) With respect to service, Jiminez again rated highly; and (3) With respect to scholarship, the evaluation observed that Jiminez had attended various meetings. As with the initial MWC evaluation, Jiminez conspicuously took no exception to the conclusions, nor did he request consideration for a merit award.

B.

Despite a recurrent history of poor evaluations, Jiminez managed to muster some support at MWC: various students wrote letters and met with Hall on Jiminez' behalf. The crux of these letters was that Jiminez was a caring man and a good professor. According to Jiminez, and as found by the district court, some of these letters suggested that Jiminez was the victim of a concerted effort of racial discrimination by some MWC students to have him terminated via poor teacher evaluations. For example, a letter from former student Laura Kasley (Kasley) recited:

It is my understanding that several students have either given Mr. Jiminez poor evaluations, or have written negative letters of complaint concerning his teaching.... Last semester (Fall 91), I ... witnessed, on evaluation day, a collaborative effort on the part of the majority of the students to give Mr. Jiminez a poor evaluation.... It is my opinion that the students in this class, who gave Mr. Jiminez poor evaluations, did not take the time required by the course to fully understand the material.

...

Since the first day of classes, Mr. Jiminez forewarned us to ask him to repeat himself if we couldn't understand his accent.... I have acclimated to his accent and find no trouble understanding him.

Id. at 471-72. At trial, Kasley testified as to the allegedly collusive conduct of some students:

Well, it was basically that they were laughing and saying, Yeah, right, this is you know, one way, and things like this, to give him the lowest possible score, and I didn't say anything.... I am not sure why many of the students in ... economics class gave Mr. Jiminez poor evaluations, and I question if they knew what they were setting in motion by doing so; I don't think that these evaluations should be taken in [sic] consideration.

Id. at 58. Kasley testified further that her opinion of Jiminez was grounded in the fact that he helped her personally a great deal with her work and was accommodating of her schedule. Critically, Kasley testified that students expressed their displeasure with Jiminez' teaching abilities prior to their evaluations, which was not an uncommon occurrence.

A letter from Rachel Holland (Holland) reported that "part of the problem lies with a small group of bigotted [sic] individuals that were in the ... class that I took last semester.... Comments like, 'Let's give...