Scallet v. Rosenblum, Civil A. No. 94-0016-C.

• Decision Date: 18 January 1996
• Docket Number: Civil A. No. 94-0016-C.
• Parties: Robert J. SCALLET, Plaintiff, v. John W. ROSENBLUM, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia

911 F. Supp. 999

Robert J. SCALLET, Plaintiff, v. John W. ROSENBLUM, et al., Defendants.

Civil A. No. 94-0016-C.

United States District Court, W.D. Virginia, Charlottesville Division.

January 18, 1996.

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Frederick Theodore Heblich, Jr., Parker, McElwain & Jacobs, P.C., Charlottesville, VA, Edward A. Scallet, Washington, DC, for Robert J. Scallet.

Alison Paige Landry, Office of Attorney General, Richmond, VA, Earl C. Dudley, Jr., Office of General Counsel University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, James J. Mingle, General Counsel's Office, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Beth C. Hodsdon, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Lee E. Goodman, University of Virginia Office of General Counsel, Charlottesville, VA, for John Rosenblum and Clyde Ray Smith.

Earl C. Dudley, Jr., Office of General Counsel, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, James J. Mingle, General Counsel's Office, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Beth C. Hodsdon, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Lee E. Goodman, University of Virginia, Office of General Counsel, Charlottesville, VA, for Thomas Jackson, Daniel Hallahan, Robert Harris, John Casteen and John Buckman.

Lee E. Goodman, University of Virginia Office of General Counsel, Charlottesville, VA, for Rector & Visitors of University of Virginia.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MICHAEL, District Judge.

Plaintiff, a non-tenured instructor at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business ("Darden"), brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the defendants, three senior Darden faculty members, violated rights secured to Plaintiff under the First Amendment by refusing to renew his teaching contract in retaliation for his outspokenness on issues of "diversity" at Darden. Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief and damages for this alleged violation of his constitutional rights. Plaintiff has also brought defamation claims against the defendants for statements they made to the faculty member assigned to investigate the defendants' actions. Plaintiff contends that these statements were designed to effectuate a coverup of the true reasons defendants took the action they did.

This matter is currently before the court on defendants' motion for summary judgment. For the reasons stated herein, the court grants the motion with respect to the First Amendment claim. Consequently, the court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law defamation claims, see 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3), and, therefore, will not address the merits of those claims.

I. Undisputed Facts

The following facts are undisputed. Plaintiff Robert J. Scallet became a full-time faculty member at Darden in 1988.¹ At Darden, Scallet taught a section of the Analysis and Communications course ("A & C"), a writing and speech class that all students are required to take in their first year at Darden. Scallet also had administrative responsibilities within the A & C department, serving as Course Head beginning in 1988. Scallet's responsibilities as Course Head included administering the course, managing other A & C faculty, and developing the curriculum for A & C. Def.Exh. 47, Scallet Dep. at 35-49.

Scallet was a strong advocate of "diversity" while at Darden. By that term, it is understood that Scallet championed, among other things, the goal of broadening both the traditional focus of classroom materials so as to make them more accessible to women and minorities, and the traditional underpinnings of the business community itself, so as to make that sphere more hospitable to the same.

In the fall of 1991, Defendant Smith, an Associate Dean at Darden, asked Scallet to take some "pieces of paper" off of the wall outside his office. Def.Exh. 37, Smith Dep. at 145-148. Those pieces of paper consisted of various articles and cartoons that Scallet had posted. Pl.Exh. 38.

In late April or early May of 1992, Defendant Harris, another Associate Dean at Darden, met with Scallet and suggested to him that his contract would be renewed for the 1992-1993 academic year. Def.Exh. 45, Harris Dep. at 448 ("I had told Scallet ... that it would be my recommendation that he had the position at Darden the following year"); Def.Exh. 46, Rosenblum Dep. at 245-46. Defendant Harris made the statement to Scallet "because I, I felt that Scallet continued to be able to deliver some good instruction to the Darden students." Id. at 641. A few days later, however, Defendants Smith and Harris, together with Defendant Rosenblum, the Dean of Darden, met with the other members of the A & C faculty to discuss, outside of Scallet's presence, reported problems the A & C faculty were having with Scallet. At that meeting, the faculty members expressed concerns about their collective ability to continue working with Scallet. See, e.g., Def.Exh. 13, Helscher Aff. At ¶ 8; Def.Exh. 8, Rubin Aff. At ¶ 14. A short time after this meeting, Dean Rosenblum informed Scallet that he would be relieved of his teaching duties for the 1992-1993 academic year² and that his contract would not be renewed thereafter. Def.Exh. 46, Rosenblum Dep. at 287; Complaint ¶ 31.³

In response, Scallet filed a grievance petition with the University in October 1992, seeking review of the adverse action. In his petition, Scallet alleged that Dean Rosenblum failed to renew his contract on account of Scallet's outspoken views regarding issues of diversity and "multiculturalism" at Darden. Scallet's request for review prompted an internal investigation that culminated in a report prepared by Defendant Daniel Hallahan, a Professor in the School of Education and a member of the Faculty Relations Committee. That report contained comments from various faculty members at Darden, including Dean Rosenblum, to the effect that Scallet was an ineffective faculty member who possessed character defects. The report, issued in March 1993, concluded that there was no support for Scallet's contention that he was retaliated against for his remarks about diversity. Pl.Exh. 1 at p. 7. However, the report contained a comment attributed to Defendant Rosenblum that "there were a few faculty who did not like Scallet's activist orientation to the course,...." Id. at 4.

In March 1994, Scallet filed the current lawsuit, naming Dean Rosenblum and Associate Deans Harris and Smith as defendants. Scallet's amended complaint contains seven counts, of which Counts One, Three, Four and Five are still before the court.⁴ Count One alleges that the defendants, acting in their personal capacities, violated Scallet's First Amendment rights by taking adverse employment action against him in response to Scallet's remarks about diversity, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.⁵ Because of its disposition, the court does not address defendants' argument that they enjoy qualified immunity for their actions. Counts Three, Four and Five state individual defamation claims against defendants Rosenblum, Smith and Harris, respectively, for the statements they made to Professor Hallahan in the course of Professor Hallahan's investigation.

II. Disputed Facts

A.

The speech that Scallet alleges caused defendants to take the adverse action against him falls into three categories: (1) classroom discussions; (2) comments made by Scallet in faculty meetings; and (3) articles and cartoons posted by Scallet on the wall outside of his office. These three categories of speech are described briefly below.

First, Scallet contends that defendants objected to the content of his classroom discussions. Scallet maintains that "senior faculty members were threatened by ... the issues Scallet was discussing in the classroom." Complaint ¶ 23. Scallet points to comments by Defendant Harris to Plaintiff that "Smith and the others want all the social and political content stripped from your course." Pl.Exh.Tab 1, Scallet Dep. at 259. Specifically, Defendant Harris allegedly told Scallet that senior faculty members objected to Scallet's discussion of "power relationships" in corporate organization and his teaching the movie "Roger and Me."⁶ Id. at 133, 136. Indeed, one senior faculty member expressed concerns about Scallet's showing a "commie" movie at Darden. Id. At 115. Furthermore, Defendant Harris allegedly told Scallet that members of the faculty did not approve of two cases he used in class. One involved the target-marketing of cigarettes to African-Americans and the other featured an Asian woman as the key decision-maker. Complaint ¶ 25. Defendant Harris did not indicate whether the senior faculty disagreed with the social and political content of the materials or if they thought it was pedagogically inappropriate. Pl.Exh. Tab 1, Scallet Dep. at 259. And as noted above, Defendant Rosenblum told Professor Hallahan that "there were a few faculty who did not like Scallet's activist orientation to the course,...." Def.Exh. 1 at 4.

Scallet further contends that his 1991 request for summer funding was denied because he intended to use the grant to develop course materials that touched upon social and political issues. He was allegedly told by Defendant Harris that "we don't want you doing that. Cross that off the list." Pl.Exh. Tab 1, Scallet Dep. at 258. More generally, Scallet claims that he was reprimanded on one occasion by Defendant Smith who stated that he "hated my tone, he hated ... the minority material I taught. He found me dangerous, he found me evil, I was undermining his objectives for the school,...." Id. at 222. During this same discussion, Defendant Smith allegedly intimated to Scallet that he had been trying to get Scallet fired for two years and stated "now I am going to do it." Id.⁷ When Scallet ultimately confronted Defendant Rosenblum about the non-renewal and asked whether Defendant Smith was the catalyst for it and further whether Rosenblum felt pressure to support Smith because Smith was...