Logan v. Bennington College Corp.
| Decision Date | 11 March 1996 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 1630,D,1761,s. 1630 |
| Citation | 72 F.3d 1017 |
| Parties | 106 Ed. Law Rep. 51 Leroy LOGAN, Plaintiff-Appellee-Cross-Appellant, v. BENNINGTON COLLEGE CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee, Trustees of Bennington College, Elizabeth Coleman, Joan Goodrich, Ronald Cohen, Daniel Michaelson, Betsy Sherman, Adrienne Marcus, and Liz Pellerin, Defendants. ockets 94-7976L, 94-9012. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Mitchell L. Pearl, Langrock Sperry & Wool, Middlebury, Vermont (Ellen Mercer Fallon, Langrock Sperry & Wool, on the brief), for defendant-appellant-cross-appellee.
William K. Sessions, Sessions Keiner Dumont & Barnes, P.C., Middlebury, Vermont (Bonnie Barnes, Sessions Keiner Dumont & Barnes, P.C., on the brief), for plaintiff-appellee-cross-appellant.
Before: LUMBARD, ALTIMARI, and MAHONEY, Circuit Judges.
Defendant-appellant-cross-appellee Bennington College ("Bennington" or "College") appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont (Billings, J.), following a jury verdict, awarding plaintiff-appellee-cross-appellant Leroy Logan ("Logan") damages for breach of contract. We affirm the district court's granting of Bennington's pre-trial motion for summary judgment, thereby dismissing Logan's due process and negligence claims. We reverse, however, the judgment of the district court denying Bennington's post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law on Logan's breach of contract claims, and remand this case with instructions to vacate the verdict and jury award entered against Bennington.
The present case centers on Bennington, a small college located in Vermont which has always prided itself on progressive and non-traditional pedagogy. Recently, Bennington has been criticized by former faculty members and other educators because its President, Elizabeth Coleman ("Coleman"), has undertaken measures to downsize the school. Since 1987, when Coleman took office, nearly one third of the faculty has been dismissed, ostensibly for fiscal reasons. Moreover, Bennington has ended its "presumptive tenure" plan, under which, absent certain circumstances Logan taught drama for eighteen years at Bennington, until his discharge on July 20, 1990, for alleged sexual harassment. At the time the incidents underlying this case occurred, Logan, like other professors at Bennington, had presumptive tenure. As described in section 9.43 of the Bennington College Faculty Handbook ("Faculty Handbook"), a professor with presumptive tenure held a contract for a five-year term of employment with the College. The College was obligated to extend that contract for another five years, unless the professor substantially failed to perform the terms of his or her employment contract with the College, or exigent financial circumstances or changes in educational policy required elimination of the teaching position.
professors held a five-year term of employment with the College that was automatically renewed for another five-year term.
On May 16, 1990, a male student of Logan's ("complainant") filed a complaint with the College alleging that Logan forced the student to have sexual relations with him on Thanksgiving Day, 1989, in Wales, where Logan was directing a College-sponsored program (the "London Program") in which the complainant was a participant. The student's complaint was referred to the College's Sexual Harassment Committee pursuant to an interim policy on sexual harassment instituted by Bennington on September 1, 1989 ("interim policy").
The interim policy was designed to replace the College's older policy regarding sexual harassment that had existed since 1982 ("older policy"). Bennington's legal counsel had advised the College that the older policy might not comply with state regulations. Moreover, in an unrelated harassment case against Bennington brought before the Vermont Human Rights Commission ("HRC") by another student, Bennington had signed a conciliation agreement with the HRC which provided that, among other things, Bennington would revise its sexual harassment policy. Accordingly, in 1989 Coleman appointed a six-member committee to draft an interim policy on harassment, which Coleman approved in August, 1989, and the Board of Trustees authorized to take effect as of September 1, 1989.
While the interim policy retains the definition of sexual harassment under the older policy, it is more comprehensive than the older policy with respect to the informal and formal procedures to be followed in cases of complaints alleging sexual harassment. For example, the older policy, contained in Section 1.47 of the Faculty Handbook and consisting of three single-spaced pages, established a three-member grievance committee comprised of both genders which was authorized to investigate complaints of sexual harassment and, if the dispute could not be resolved informally, to hold a hearing. Two of the three grievance committee members were appointed by the College President. The only procedures outlined by the older policy were that (i) notice of the complaint and hearing be given to the parties, (ii) the complainant be allowed to attend the hearing, (iii) minutes of the hearing be kept, and (iv) the result of the hearing could be appealed to the College President.
By contrast, the interim policy is seven single-spaced pages, and establishes more specific procedures at all stages of the grievance process, both informal and formal. Among other things, the new policy creates a five-member Sexual Harassment Committee ("Committee") to investigate and hear formal complaints alleging sexual harassment. The Committee members are appointed by the College President, and include the Director of Student Affairs, who chairs the Committee, two faculty members, one staff member, and one student. According to the interim policy, the Committee's primary function is to conduct hearings for all formal sexual harassment complaints at the College. The Committee can also hear appeals from decisions by the College in informal harassment proceedings. The interim policy authorizes the Committee to establish its own procedures, and to contact all persons who are involved in the case, provided that notice of such contact is given to the parties.
If, after the formal hearing, the Committee concludes that formal disciplinary action against a faculty member is called for, it may recommend to the College President one of several sanctions, including discharge from employment at the College. Appeals from a decision by the Committee may also be taken to the College President within ten days of the decision. The format for such appeals is left to the discretion of the College President. The College President may implement, modify or suspend the sanctions recommended by the Committee, and his or her decision is final. The interim policy further provides that formal complaints of sexual harassment are to be resolved as promptly as possible, and recommends that a written decision be rendered within thirty days of the filing of a complaint.
Logan received notice of the complaint and hearing, as well as a list of seven students who would be interviewed by the Committee as potential witnesses. He acknowledged receipt of the hearing notice, and submitted his own list of twelve witnesses. The Committee notified Logan that only those witnesses with potential direct knowledge of the incidents at issue, namely those in the London Program at the time of the alleged harassment, would be permitted to testify. A five-hour hearing was held on May 31, 1990, at which the complainant, Logan and seven students who had participated in the College's London Program testified. Logan was assisted by a faculty representative. The parties were permitted to question witnesses and read statements, and were examined by the Committee members.
The Committee deliberated for several days, and in a written report and recommendation unanimously recommended termination of Logan. The Committee members found the complainant's testimony detailed and credible, and Logan's testimony vague and uncorroborated by several of the witnesses. The Committee's recommendation was sent to Coleman. Logan appealed the decision to Coleman, who held a hearing on the matter in which Logan was represented by counsel. At the hearing's conclusion, Coleman declined to alter the original decision, and Logan was terminated.
On April 25, 1991, Logan commenced the instant action against the College and the individual faculty and staff members who were involved in the decision to terminate him. Seeking reinstatement and damages, Logan's complaint alleged claims for breach of contract, negligence, denial of federal and state due process, and defamation. Prior to trial, Logan stipulated to the dismissal of the defamation claim. Except for the breach of contract claims against the College, the remaining claims were dismissed by the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Bennington. The breach of contract claims against the College proceeded to trial.
At trial, Logan contended that when he was hired, he was told that the terms of his employment contract were set forth in the Faculty Handbook. He proceeded to present four separate breach of contract theories to the jury. First, Logan contended that Bennington adopted the interim policy in violation of his contractual rights contained in the Faculty Handbook. Second, he contended that Bennington failed to afford him the procedural rights guaranteed under his employment contract. Third, Logan claimed that Bennington lacked good cause to terminate him because the charges against him were untrue. Fourth, Logan claimed that by terminating him, Bennington breached an implied contractual duty of good faith and fair dealing. After a four-day trial, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of Logan in the amount of...
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