Martin v. State Univ. Of N.Y.

Decision Date26 March 2010
Docket NumberNo. CV 06-2049(WDW).,CV 06-2049(WDW).
Citation704 F.Supp.2d 202
PartiesDiane MARTIN, Plaintiff,v.STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, State University of New York College at Farmingdale, Long Island Educational Opportunity Center, Dr. Jonathan Gibralter, in his individual and official capacity, Dean Veronica Henry, in her individual and official capacity, and Prof. Robert Reganse, in his individual and official capacity, Defendants.Rita Hegde, Plaintiff,v.State University of New York, State University of New York College at Farmingdale, Long Island Educational Opportunity Center, Dr. Jonathan Gibralter, in his individual and official capacity, Dean Veronica Henry, in her individual and official capacity, and Prof. Robert Reganse, in his individual and official capacity, Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

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Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, Frederick K. Brewington, Esq., Hempstead, NY, for Plaintiffs.

Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General of the State of New York, Anne C. Leahey, Esq., Hauppauge, NY, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

WALL, United States Magistrate Judge:

Before this court, on consent of the parties, is a motion for summary judgment by defendants State University of New York (SUNY), State University of New York College at Farmingdale (SUNY Farmingdale) 1, Long Island Educational Opportunity Center (LIEOC), Veronica Henry, Jonathan Gibralter, and Robert Reganse. Plaintiffs Rita Hegde and Diane Martin have opposed the motion.2 For the reasons set forth herein, defendants' motion for summary judgment is denied as to Martin's Title VII retaliation claims pertaining to her non-renewal as associate dean and her transfer to a different site, and denied as to Hegde's Title VII retaliation claims pertaining to her demotion from assistant dean, failure to promote her to associate professor, and failure to award adequate discretionary salary increase for 2002-2003. Defendants' motion is granted as to all other claims.

BACKGROUND

The material facts, drawn from the Complaints and the parties' Rule 56.1 Statements, are undisputed unless otherwise noted.

Defendant LIEOC is one of several educational opportunity centers established throughout New York State for the purpose of providing educational and vocational services to disadvantaged individuals. It has facilities in Brentwood, Hempstead, and on the grounds of SUNY Farmingdale, a campus of the State University of New York (SUNY). Defendants' Rule 56.1 Statement (“Def. Stmt”) ¶¶ 1-2, DE [34-1]. SUNY Farmingdale maintains a supervisory relationship over the LIEOC. Gibralter Dep. 38:12-39:5.

Defendant Jonathan Gibralter served as President of SUNY Farmingdale from June 2001 through August 2006. Defendant Veronica Henry (Henry), who describes herself as an African American woman of Jamaican national origin, became dean of the LIEOC in 1998. At all times relevant to this action, Dr. Henry reported to the president, Gibralter.

Defendant Robert Reganse is an associate professor at the LIEOC who works in the college preparation department teaching both basic and high school equivalency mathematics. Reganse has worked at SUNY Farmingdale for more than 33 years. For roughly 28 years, he has been a member of his union at the university, held the position of vice president of academics, and acted as a key figure in labor management meetings. Def. Stmt ¶ 18; Plaintiffs' Rule 56.1 Counter Statement (“Pl.Stmt”) ¶ 18, DE [34-11]. Based on the nature of their arguments, plaintiffs apparently surmise that Reganse used whatever influence he possessed by virtue of his union position to influence others to take allegedly discriminatory actions against the plaintiffs.

Plaintiff Rita Hegde (Hegde), a woman of East Indian origin, has been employed by the LIEOC since 1987, when she worked as an adjunct teacher in the English as a Second Language (“ESL”) Program. Pl. Stmt ¶ 3. She began working full-time as an instructor at the LIEOC in 1990, teaching ESL, and later worked as an assistant dean from September 2000 through June 2002, when she returned to teaching full-time. Def. Stmt ¶ 3.

Plaintiff Diane Martin (Martin) is an African-American woman who served a term appointment as associate dean at the LIEOC from August 16, 2001 to December 15, 2002. During her time as associate dean, the three assistant deans at LIEOC, including plaintiff Rita Hegde, reported directly to her. Martin, in turn, reported to defendant Veronica Henry.

Plaintiff Hegde's Hiring as Assistant Dean

In the summer of 2000, Hegde, along with other LIEOC faculty, received a memorandum from Henry stating that she was seeking applicants for 10-month and 12-month positions as assistant deans at the LIEOC. Def. Stmt ¶ 218; Pl. Stmt ¶ 218. Hegde, not interested in the positions, chose not to apply. Hegde Dep. 108:24-109:1. However, after Reganse recommended Hegde for the position of assistant dean,3 Henry telephoned Hegde at home and asked her to apply. Henry told Hegde she was the best person for the job and offered her the job. Hegde accepted the offer and began serving as an assistant dean on September 1, 2000.

Martin's Hiring as Associate Dean

In the Spring of 2001, Henry drafted an advertisement and convened a search committee to fill the position of associate dean at the LIEOC. The search committee conducted interviews and recommended three applicants to Henry for a second interview. Of those three, Martin was the only African-American. Henry interviewed all three and selected Martin as her first choice. Def. Stmt ¶ 230.4 She recommended to Gibralter that Martin be hired, and Gibralter approved Henry's recommendation without interviewing Martin himself. SUNY Farmingdale extended Martin an offer of employment as associate dean by letter dated August 2, 2001. Martin's appointment was classified as “Appendix A,” and was subject to the laws of New York State and the Policies of the Board of Trustees. According to Martin, she maintained an office on the Farmingdale campus until the end of August 2002. Martin Aff. ¶ 69.

Budget Cuts Mandated

In March of 2002, Vijay Macwan, a Vice-Chancellor at SUNY who was responsible for the EOC programs for the entire state, told Henry she had to cut money out of the LIEOC budget. In total, Henry was responsible for implementing cuts of approximately 5%, over $300,000, of the LIEOC budget.5 Defendants have provided few specifics as to the budget process, offering only Henry's testimony that her “principle” in implementing the cuts was to eliminate administrative positions first and preserve teaching positions to the extent possible. Def. Stmt ¶ 82. Martin counters that this principle is “mere pretext” and was never relayed to her despite her status as Chief Academic Officer of the LIEOC. Pl. Stmt ¶ 82.

Hegde's Encounter with Reganse

On March 20, 2002, Henry brought Gibralter to visit the Brentwood unit of the LIEOC. As assistant dean at Brentwood, Hegde took Gibralter on a tour of the facility's labs and classrooms. Later that day, Hegde traveled to the Farmingdale campus to discuss Gibralter's impression of the Brentwood operation with assistant dean Abraham Sabbas. She located him in the office of Professor Robert Reganse. Upon seeing her, Reganse said to Hegde, “Oh, so tell me what did the president think of the Indian woman running the unit?” Hegde testified that she found the remark offensive.

According to Hegde, this was not the first time Professor Reganse had made comments that she found offensive or embarrassing. Hegde Aff. ¶ 46-50. Hegde avers that, in the Spring of 2000, “in the course of some conversation with me about his knowledge of Hindi words,” Reganse used the words “madrchod” (mother-fucker”), “behnchod” (sister-fucker”), “lund” (“penis”), “chute” (“vagina”), “gandu” (“homosexual”), “lundvash” (“the person who does it to the homosexual”), “rundi” (“prostitute”) and “pokachokedu” (“stud”). Id. at ¶ 46. Reganse admits to having this conversation, but states that it was in the context of telling her about an “extremely embarrassing situation” in which he related his knowledge of Hindi obscenities to a gentleman who turned out to be a priest. Reganse Dep. at 70:6-8; 71-72:19-12.

Around the same time in the Spring of 2000, Reganse allegedly asked Hegde “How come Indian women have voluptuous breasts?” and “when are you going to introduce me to an Indian woman with big breasts?” Hegde Aff. ¶ 47. Reganse did not recall ever saying that. Reganse Dep. at 76:7-10. On another occasion, Hegde avers that Reganse told her about an Indian friend of his who kept a dirty apartment with mouse droppings in it. Hegde Aff. ¶ 50. Reganse acknowledges sharing this information with Hegde. Reganse Dep. at 67-68:20-3.

Hegde never made any formal complaint about any of the incidents that occurred prior to the March 20, 2002 comment. She testified at her deposition that she told assistant dean Donna Scarella about Reganse's earlier remarks from the Spring of 2000 on April 26, 2002. Hegde stated that Scarella was the first person she told. Hegde Dep. 156:18-158:4.

Hegde brought up Reganse's “Indian woman in charge” remark in a telephone conversation with Dr. Henry on April 3, 2002. Henry responded by recommending that Hegde ask Reganse why he made the remark. Hegde felt “hurt and discouraged” by Henry's suggestion and apparently did not speak to Reganse about his remark. Pl. Stmt¶ 58.

Martin Becomes Involved in Hegde's Complaint regarding Reganse

On or about April 24, Hegde told Martin about Reganse's March 20 comment at a meeting of the assistant deans. After learning what Reganse said, Martin immediately called Gibralter's office to schedule a meeting. Martin testified that she later found out that Reganse had made other comments to Hegde that she had found offensive. Martin Dep....

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