McNaught v. Va. Cmty. Coll. Sys.

• Decision Date: 20 March 2013
• Docket Number: No. 1:12cv533 (JCC/TRJ).,1:12cv533 (JCC/TRJ).
• Citation: 933 F.Supp.2d 804
• Parties: William McNAUGHT, Plaintiff, v. VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM, Northern Virginia Community College, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

933 F.Supp.2d 804

William McNAUGHT, Plaintiff,

v.VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM, Northern Virginia Community College, Defendant.

No. 1:12cv533 (JCC/TRJ).

United States District Court,

E.D. Virginia,

Alexandria Division.

March 20, 2013.

Susan Laiken Kruger, Alan Lescht & Associates, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Sydney Edmund Rab, Ronald Nicholas Regnery, Office of the Attorney General, Richmond, VA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JAMES C. CACHERIS, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant Virginia Community College System, Northern Virginia Community College's (“NVCC”) Motion for Summary Judgment. [Dkt. 24.] For the following reasons, the Court will grant Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment.

I. Background

This case arises out of a national origin discrimination claim and a retaliation for prior protected activity claim by Plaintiff William McNaught, an adjunct economics professor at NVCC, based on NVCC's failure to select him for a full time permanent faculty position in 2010 and its failure to select him for adjunct instructor positions for the Summer and Fall 2012 terms.

A. Factual Background

1. The Parties

Plaintiff William McNaught (“Plaintiff” or “McNaught”) was born in the United States and identifies his national origin, ancestry, and ethnicity as being from the United States and European. (Pl. Opp. [Dkt. 29] at 2, ¶ 1; Second Am. Compl. ¶ 4.) McNaught has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. (Pl. Opp. at 3, ¶ 2.) McNaught began teaching approximately 38 years ago and has 16 years of teaching experience overall. ( Id. at 3, ¶ 5.) McNaught has worked as an adjunct instructor for NVCC since 2005. (Def. Mem. [Dkt. 25] ¶ 2.) The student evaluations of his teaching at NVCC are good and in line with other good faculty evaluations. (Pl. Opp. at 3, ¶ 4.) McNaught has taught at a number of other schools in addition to NVCC, including Harvard, the United States Naval Academy, George Mason University, John Hopkins University, Georgetown University, Audrey Cohen College, and Catholic University. (Pl. Opp. at 3, ¶ 5.) He has received recognition from George Mason University for his high student course evaluation ratings. ( Id. at 3, ¶ 6; July 9, 2012 Mem. from Muir to McNaught [Dkt. 29–6].) McNaught also worked as an economist at two major consulting firms, a large international philanthropy, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. (Pl. Opp. at 3, ¶ 7.)

Defendant NVCC is a public community college which is part of the Virginia Community College System. The Alexandria campus, the campus at issue in this case, is one of several NVCC campuses. (Def. Mem. ¶¶ 1, 4.) NVCC serves a racially and ethnically diverse student population, and minority groups currently cumulatively constitute a majority of the students. (Def. Mem. ¶ 5.) The Alexandria campus has the most diverse student population. (Pl. Opp. at 4, ¶ 12.)

2. Facts Relating to Alleged National Origin Discrimination

a. NVCC's Faculty Selection Policy and General Process

It is undisputed that one of NVCC's goals is for its faculty to become more diverse in order to better resemble the student body, and that NVCC has indicated that it is “highly desirable” that it has a diverse pool of candidates from which to select during the recruitment of new faculty. (Def. Mem. ¶ 5; Pl. Opp. at 6, ¶ 6).

Defendant has presented testimony from its President, Dr. Templin, that although he has emphasized the importance of having a diverse pool of candidates whenever possible, he has not instructed that any particular group be included or excluded in the selection of candidates. (Def. Mem. ¶ 6–7.) Templin also testified that he has made it clear that the candidates must meet the qualifications for the position, that the final candidate should be the best qualified, and that the guiding point for the selection process should be “teaching excellence.” ( Id.) ¹ According to the Dean of Liberal Arts (formerly Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences), Dr. McClellan, he understood the President's message to mean that NVCC should use the recruitment of candidates and broad advertisement of openings in various media to work towards the goal of having a more diverse faculty. ( Id. ¶ 9.) McClellan testified that they were never advised to make faculty hire choices dependant on a candidate's race, color, or national origin. ( Id.)

According to McClellan, NVCC uses the following process to select a permanent faculty member. The relevant division of the college writes a notice of vacancy and includes the qualifications sought. The Human Resources department edits and posts all vacancy notices submitted, determines a closing date, and advertises the position. NVCC accepts applications from all sources. (Def. Mem. ¶ 10.) Although McClellan's declaration also states that the application does not request, and the applicants do not supply, any indications of national origin ( id.), McNaught has presented evidence showing that applications for faculty positions did solicit information connected to national origin in the form of the applicants' ethnicities. (Pl. Opp. at 16, ¶ 10; Pl. Ex. 8, McNaught App. [Dkt. 29–8] at 2; Pl. Ex. 9, Seck App. [Dkt. 29–9] at 2; Pl. Ex. 15, Gandhi App. [Dkt. 30–3] at 2; Pl. Ex. 17, Biswas App. [Dkt. 30–5] at 2; Pl. Ex. 18, Wodajo App. [Dkt. 30–6] at 2.)

According to McClellan, the dean appoints a committee of five to seven faculty members, including members within and outside of the discipline which has the vacancy in question. The committee receives access to screen all the applications upon the closing date of the application period. The committee may create and use a matrix based on hiring priorities in order to evaluate the applications. The applicants with the highest total points are selected to receive interviews. The committee submits a list of five to eight candidates to be interviewed to Human Resources, which approves the list of interviewees. Then, each interviewee receives an approximately hour-long interview which includes an identical set of questions. During the interview, each candidate presents a teaching demonstration. After the teaching demonstration, the committee presents the candidate with a question and the candidate's answer to it constitutes the candidate's writing sample. After the committee reviews the candidates on their written submissions (including their resume, cover letter, and interview question writing sample), their expertise, and their skills exhibited during the teaching demonstration and interview, it advises the dean of a preferred list of three or less candidates. The dean then confers with the provost, provides for additional interviews if necessary, and then makes a recommendation of one individual. After Human Resources verifies the individual's credentials, the individual is presented to the president for approval and appointment. (Def. Mem. ¶ 10.) The president is not involved in the hiring process until this final step. ( Id. ¶ 11.)

b. McNaught's Prior Non–Selections For Faculty Position

Beginning in 2007, McNaught unsuccessfully applied for three economics facultypositions at NVCC prior to his application for the position at issue in this case. (Pl. Opp. at 4–5, ¶¶ 13–16.) First, in 2007, McNaught applied for an economics instructor position which Dr. Naveen Sarna, a native of India, ultimately received. ( Id. at 4, ¶ 14.) Second, in 2009, McNaught applied for an economics instructor position which Dr. Min, a native of Korea, received. ( Id. at 4, ¶ 15.)

Third, in July 2010, McNaught applied for a nine-month restricted faculty position (Position # 1526 (F0R43)). ( Id. at 5, ¶ 16.) The job announcement for that position did not mention non-western research experience as a requirement. ( Id. at 5, ¶ 23.) McNaught's application for that position identified his ethnicity as “White (not Hispanic or Latino).” ( Id. at 5, ¶ 17.) In its evaluation of his application for this position, the NVCC selection committee concluded that McNaught had a good background and teaching experience but lacked non-western research experience. ( Id. at 5, ¶¶ 22, 24.) McNaught did not receive an interview or an offer for that position. ( Id. at 5, ¶ 18.)

The candidate selected for that position was Mr. Moduine Seck, a native of Senegal who identified his ethnicity on the application as “Black or African American (Not Hispanic or Latino).” ( Id. at 5, ¶ 19–20). Mr. Seck does not have a Ph.D. ( Id. at 5, ¶ 21.) However, he received his undergraduate degree from the Sorbonne and has two masters degrees, one in economics and one in statistical science. (Pl. Ex. 9, Seck. App. [Dkt. 29–9] at 4.) Seck also indicated that he spoke four languages on his application. ( Id. at 5.) Moreover, Seck had some teaching experience in the NVCC system ( id.), during which his teaching performance was rated “superior in all ... aspects (Pl. Ex. 14, Mem. from McClellan to Templin [Dkt. 30–2] at 2). Dr. McClellan stated that he recommended Seck as the candidate because NVCC was seeking a candidate who could teach international students about economic development in Africa, Latin America and Asia. (Pl. Ex. 12, Email from McClellan to Coles [Dkt. 29–12] at 2.) McClellan indicated that Seck's background and his studies at NVCC in its English–as–a–Second–Language program well prepared him to relate to NVCC's students. ( Id.) McClellan also noted in his recommendation of Seck to President Templin that the Alexandria campus of NVCC had many students from west Africa. (Pl. Ex. 14 at 2.) In addition, McClellan stated in that recommendation that Seck received the highest score out of the candidates on his technology skills and knowledge of software applications related to the field of economics. ( Id.)

c. The December 2010 Faculty Position (Position # 1769)

i. The Position Description

The position at issue in this case was a nine-month faculty position, teaching position Reference ID # 1769, Position F0874 (“Position # 1769”)...