Peters v. Middlebury College

• Decision Date: 22 January 1976
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 73-153.
• Citation: 409 F. Supp. 857
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Vermont
• Parties: Joan K. PETERS v. MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE and James Armstrong.

409 F. Supp. 857

Joan K. PETERS v. MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE and James Armstrong.

Civ. A. No. 73-153.

United States District Court, D. Vermont.

January 22, 1976.

David Curtis, Hoff, Curtis, Bryan, Quinn & Jenkins, Burlington, Vt., for plaintiff.

Karen McAndrew, Frederic W. Allen, Dinse, Allen & Erdmann, Burlington, Vt., for defendants.

HOLDEN, Chief Judge.

The plaintiff, Joan Peters, a former member of the faculty of Middlebury College, seeks in this action against the College and its former president, to vindicate rights which she asserts are protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Her claim is generated by the defendants' refusal to extend her non-tenured position on the faculty in the English department of the College. She contends the defendants' failure to offer her a third year teaching contract was based on her sex and, more particularly, her introduction into the academic courses assigned for her instruction, activist views concerning feminism. The court's jurisdiction is invoked under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5. (See Memorandum and Order of this court filed September 11, 1974.) The case was heard by the court during four days of trial. From the evidence presented, the court finds the facts which follow.

Findings of Fact

After being interviewed in New York City and on the college campus by various members of the Middlebury English department, the plaintiff was appointed to the faculty at Middlebury College for the academic year which commenced in September, 1971, and ended June 30, 1972. Her appointment was to the rank of instructor with promotion to assistant professor to follow on her receipt of her doctorate.

New appointments to the Middlebury faculty are made by the president of the college, subject to confirmation by the board of trustees. Reappointments and promotions are accomplished by the board upon recommendation of the president. Before making the decision to recommend reappointment or not, the president is required to secure written recommendations of the chairman of the department concerned, and to consult with the faculty subcommittee on tenure and promotion, referred to as the "Senior Faculty Council." These requirements are set forth in the Middlebury College Handbook (Def.'s Ex. U). Appointment and reappointment are based on a judgment of professional competence, the promise of the person concerned as to future, and by his or her contributions to the college community. Professional competence is to be measured primarily in terms of teaching ability. Judgment in these areas is to be consistent with academic freedom as defined in the 1940 Statement of Principle of the American Association of University Professors. (Handbook Def. Ex. U).

At the time of her employment the plaintiff was advised by the acting chairman of the English department that in all likelihood she would be offered a second year contract, as such an appointment tends to be fairly automatic. She was also told that if things went well the College hoped she would stay for a third year; this would depend on performance. At the same time the plaintiff was informed that there would be little likelihood of her being asked to stay beyond three years. The College Handbook, with which Ms. Peters was conversant, provided that at the rank of Instructor, "appointments should be for one or two years."

In February, 1972, Ms. Peters was offered a second contract for the ensuing year.¹ Since she had not received her doctorate, the renewal was at the rank of instructor; she accepted the contract. Before the plaintiff accepted reappointment on February 15, 1972, Professor Littlefield wrote a memorandum to Ms. Peters, enclosing a copy of her initial contract and referred specifically to the Handbook provisions relating to appointments to the faculty at the rank of Instructor.

In a December conference, before the second contract was tendered, Ms. Peters was informed by the chairman of the department, Professor David Littlefield, that this was customary. He went on to point out that she was "too political," that the College was not politically motivated. The chairman suggested that if she wished to actively pursue her interest in the women's movement, she should look for employment in an urban environment. During this meeting Professor Littlefield informed the plaintiff that her career interest professionally must be in line with the program needs of the English department; that her zealous interest in literature imaging women, or literature written by women, must take a place of secondary importance, since there was no great demand for such courses at Middlebury, as reflected in the enrollment figures for the forthcoming winter term. He pointed out that in a future renewal, her competence in the Renaissance courses would be most important. There also was some discussion concerning the prospect of a three year term, held out at the time of Ms. Peters' initial appointment. Professor Littlefield informed the plaintiff that the reference to three one-year contracts assured nothing; that annual reviews were of first importance.

On January 10, 1972, the chairman of the department recommended the plaintiff's reappointment for a second year. In his letter to the president of the college he expressed some reservations about the plaintiff's teaching, indicating that "perhaps because she is a little too assertive in manner or because she does not seem fully to encounter, or communicate the intellectual complexity of her subject matter, Joan has not yet established herself as the strong teacher she will need to become if she is to be continued in the department."

A review for the purpose of considering plaintiff's reappointment for a third year was undertaken early in her second year of teaching at Middlebury. There was no observation nor faculty auditing of her class work during the fall of her second year before the chairman's recommendation to the president was made. In preparing his recommendation, the chairman followed the customary and prescribed procedure in soliciting written comments from the tenured members of the English department, informal comments from some of the junior members, and a recommendation from the Student Advisory Council to the English department.

On October 30, 1972, the department chairman sent to the president of the college, the defendant, James I. Armstrong, a recommendation of non-reappointment for the plaintiff. His letter goes on to state:

The principal reason for this recommendation is that she does not meet the high standards of professional competence, especially in the upper division course to which this department aspires and toward which it labors. She is not discriminatingly rigorous in the examination, analysis and presentation of literature, literary history, or intellectual history. She is energetic, enthusiastic and uncritically open to any view. She seems not to know, or perhaps is unable to articulate, the principle of criticism, the intellectual assumptions by which she operates. She has read widely and possesses a good deal of information, but her discourse about literary matters is neither systematic or sophisticated.

On this central matter of Joan's intellectual abilities and classroom performance, the senior members of the English staff, John Clagett excepted, are in agreement. We have heard her lecture, worked in staff courses with her, sat on oral examination boards with her. We are in general agreement she ought not to remain long among us, that she is not serving the department well in teaching the upper division Renaissance courses for which she was recruited.

* * * * * *

The course of action I recommend is not likely to be popular with students who, though they in part recognize her intellectual limitation, are warmly responsive to her enthusiasm, energy, openness and ready human concern.

It is my hope these personal practices and virtues of attitude, which are very real indeed, and make Joan a most personable colleague, will sustain her spirit and insure her continuing cooperation at a time of disappointed hopes. Def. Ex. H, (Ltr. David J. Littlefield, Oct. 30, 1972).

This communication accurately conveyed the consensus of the senior members of the English department. Two of this group were in favor of Ms. Peters' retention to teach first and second year courses. There was substantial agreement that her competency in advanced courses, particularly in the Renaissance, was doubtful.

President Armstrong submitted the recommendation of the plaintiff's non-reappointment to the Senior Faculty Council for review. The Council, whose membership is elected by the faculty, then interviewed the tenured members of the English department, with the exception of the chairman, as well as some other members of the faculty who were thought to have an opinion of the plaintiff's competence in her field. The Senior Faculty Council, after its investigation and review, accepted the department's judgment that the plaintiff was not desirable because of professional deficiencies. It determined that the recommendation not to reappoint was an academic judgment. Although the Council was aware that some difference of opinion existed within the department as to reappointment for one more year, it was felt that "humanitarian considerations" explained the divergence. With this in mind, all three members of the Council recommended nonreappointment to the president. The president recommended to the board of trustees that the plaintiff not be reappointed.

On December 20, 1972, the plaintiff informed President Armstrong in writing that she wished to appeal the decision of non-reappointment on the ground that the decision not to renew was the result of sex discrimination. In keeping with the established procedure for such an appeal, the Committee on Conference with the Trustees was convened on February 20, 1973. The plaintiff submitted an extensive brief and accompanying materials in support of her...