Lakshman v. University of Maine System
| Decision Date | 06 August 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. CV-03-52-B-W.,CV-03-52-B-W. |
| Citation | 328 F.Supp.2d 92 |
| Parties | Dilip K. LAKSHMAN, Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEM, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maine |
Judith W. Thornton, Ebitz & Thornton, P.A., Brewer, ME, for Dilip K Lakshman, Plaintiff.
Anne-Marie L. Storey, Rudman & Winchell, Paul W. Chaiken, Rudman & Winchell, Bangor, ME, for University of Maine System, Defendant.
AMENDED ORDER ON DEFENDANT UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEM'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Plaintiff Dilip K. Lakshman, Ph.D. (Lakshman), is employed as a Senior Scientist at the University of Maine. A dark skinned male of East Asian descent, Dr. Lakshman was born in India and speaks with an Indian accent.1 He has filed suit, claiming the University of Maine System (University) violated his legal rights due to his race, color, ethnicity, national origin, and gender. This Court grants the University's Motion for Summary Judgment, because Dr. Lakshman's claims are either time barred or fail to create genuine issues of material fact within strictures of the statutory provisions he has invoked.
In accordance with the "conventional summary judgment praxis," the Court recounts the facts in a light most favorable to Dr. Lakshman's theory of the case, consistent with record support.2 Gillen v. Fallon Ambulance Serv., 283 F.3d 11, 16 (1st Cir.2002). The Court has relied either on the uncontested facts or on Dr. Lakshman's version, if in conflict. After receiving his doctorate in plant pathology from Cornell University in 1984 and undertaking two years of post-doctoral study, Dr Lakshman became employed at the University of Maine in 1986 as a post-doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Biological Sciences (Department).3 Dr. Lakshman was hired to assist with the research projects of Dr. Stellos Tavantzis, a Professor of Plant Pathology. Dr. Lakshman's job was a non-tenure track position within the Maine Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES).4
There are at least two career paths for post-doctoral professionals within research universities. The first is the traditional tenured faculty route; the second, less well traveled, is the non-faculty scientist route. Having obtained a Ph.D., many scientists seek a tenure track appointment, but these prized positions become available sporadically and, while waiting for a faculty position to open, the scientist might settle, as Dr. Lakshman did, for a temporary research associate appointment. Encouraged by Dr. Tavantzis, Dr. Lakshman remained at MAFES, the research arm of the University, in the hope his loyalty and talent would lead to a tenure track appointment when the opportunity presented itself.
This did not prove true. Over the years, Dr. Lakshman found himself confined to the role of research scientist.5 His efforts to obtain tenure track positions at the University were rebuffed and he was paid substantially less than his faculty colleagues. Although the University contends that Dr. Lakshman chose the research scientist career path, Dr. Lakshman disagrees. He contends that he did not freely elect a less remunerative career path and was not content to remain a research scientist under the direction of higher paid and tenured faculty members of equal qualification. Instead, the University pigeonholed him into a poorly paid position and blocked his efforts to break out into a position consistent with his education and ability.
Dr. Lakshman's explanation for the University's actions forms the basis for his claim. When he came to the University in 1986, he was and still remains one of few non-Caucasian employees in his Department. Although he concedes the University had an affirmative action plan, which applied to Asians, he contends that upon urging by female faculty, the University focused its attention on the recruitment of women, to the detriment of minority males. Dr. Lakshman believes he was, in effect, the victim of two institutional biases: (1) a bias in favor of female faculty candidates; and, (2) a bias against his race, nationality, ethnicity, and color. These biases, he asserts, coalesced to freeze him into a low paying, non-faculty position, and out of a faculty appointment.
Dr. Lakshman alleges the University's discrimination began in 1989, when he expressed an interest in an open tenure track position in the Department.6 When he questioned Dr. Tavantzis about the position, Dr. Tavantzis replied it was marked for a woman.7 Although qualified, Dr. Lakshman did not apply for the position, and it went to Jody Jellison, Ph.D., a female. In 1993, Dr. Lakshman says he applied for a position as an Assistant Research Professor and was rejected.8 Instead, he was awarded an Associate Scientist position, a job requiring only a bachelors degree and paying only $1,300 more than he had been making. In 1995, Dr. Lakshman again approached Dr. Tavantzis. He asked to be promoted to the position of Senior Scientist; instead, he was placed in an Associate Scientist position, requiring only a masters degree, again at a salary far below the level of his qualifications.
In 1997, a tenure track position, in mycology, became available at the University. Dr. Jellison was the chair of the search committee and Dr. Tavantzis was a member. Dr. Lakshman approached Dr. Jellison about the position and she told him not to apply, as she had "some thing else in mind." She said: "If you apply, you won't get it." Upon learning Dr. Jellison's response, Dr. Tavantzis shook his head and said it was unfortunate after so many years of mycological research, Lakshman could not apply and would not be considered. The University hired Seania Annis, Ph.D., a female, for the mycologist position.9 Dr. Annis received her Ph.D. in 1995 in the same field as Dr. Lakshman's: plant pathology. Dr. Lakshman says he was more qualified than Dr. Annis for the mycology position.
In 1998, Dr. Lakshman asked Dr. Tavantzis to request a promotion and raise. Dr. Tavantzis did so, writing to Christopher Campbell, Ph.D., then the Associate Chair of the Department. After Dr. Campbell failed to respond for over a year, Dr. Lakshman wrote him directly on November 20, 2000. In response, on November 27, 2000, Dr. Campbell commissioned a salary study on Dr. Lakshman's behalf and requested the Peer Review Committee to review Dr. Lakshman's promotion request.
Sometime in November and December, 2000, Dr. Lakshman met with Evelyn Silver, Ph.D., the University's Equal Employment Opportunity Director. They discussed his concerns about the mycology position and Dr. Silver gave Dr. Lakshman a copy of his rights under the University's equal opportunity program. During the meeting, after she suggested there must be a misunderstanding within the Department, Dr. Lakshman told Dr. Silver not to take any action on his behalf.
On December 14, 2000, Dr. Lakshman met with Dr. Campbell about his salary inequity and discrimination concerns. Following that meeting, Dr. Campbell repeatedly asked Dr. Tavantzis whether Dr. Lakshman was an "unhappy person." Dr Tavantzis also told Dr. Lakshman that Dr. Campbell, then the Department Chair, and Susan Hunter, Ph.D., the Vice Chair, wanted Dr. Lakshman to know that they intended to create "disincentives," so that he could no longer work at the University.10 On February 14, 2001, Dr. Lakshman's union representative wrote Dr. Campbell seeking the status of his promotion request and on February 21, 2001, Dr. Lakshman filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission (MHRC).11
On March 8, 2001, the Peer Review Committee recommended Dr. Lakshman's promotion to Senior Scientist, but did not specify the amount of his raise or his job description. On March 21, 2001, Dr. Campbell and Dr. Hunter wrote to Dr. Lakshman and informed him, he would now have to work for three faculty, not just one. Dr. Lakshman considered this change of job description to be the "disincentive" Drs. Campbell and Hunter had mentioned to Dr. Tavantzis. After the Campbell-Hunter letter, Dr. Jellison met with Dr. Lakshman and told him he was "an unhappy person" and she was going to "closely monitor him for misbehavior or bad behavior in her lab." Dr. Lakshman contends and the University agrees that he has never behaved badly during his entire time at the University. Dr. Lakshman's union filed a grievance with the University, based on what they alleged was an adverse job action in retaliation for his complaints.
Although the University characterizes ensuing discussions between Dr. Lakshman and the Department as collaborative, Dr. Lakshman says in February 2002, he met with G. Bruce Wiersma, Ph.D., then Dean of the Department and Director of MAFES, and was handed an ultimatum: work on only two projects and be paid $45,000 for ten months or leave the University. At the meeting, Dr. Lakshman, feeling he had no other choice, accepted the new job assignment and salary arrangement. On February 22, 2002, Dr. Lakshman's union filed a grievance, alleging among other things that faculty members have created a hostile and intimidating work environment by using implied threats of negative job evaluations. On May 10, 2002, Dr. Lakshman re-filed his complaint with the MHRC and the EEOC, alleging discrimination on the basis of race/ethnicity and gender.
Dr. Lakshman includes two further contentions. First, he asserts virtually throughout his employment at the University, his salary has been woefully inadequate, far less than the average salary for similarly situated post-doctoral scientists. Second, he points to discriminatory remarks by members of the Department faculty. In addition to Dr. Tavantzis' comment in 1989 and Dr. Jellison's comment in 1997, Dr. Lakshman refers to the following remarks: (1) in 1995-96, Professor Frank Manzer told the Department Chair Douglas Gelinas, Ph.D., and Dr. Lakshman's supervisor,...
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