A tenured associate professor who was passed up for promotion can pursue her race discrimination and breach-of-contract allegations, but not claims for Title VII violations and retaliation, a federal judge has ruled in a suit against North Park University in Chicago.
The decision came from U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber in a suit by Dr. Maria Reyes, who is Hispanic and of Puerto Rican descent.
North Park hired Reyes in 1999, according to the ruling. In 2007, she filed an EEOC complaint alleging racial discrimination, but the parties settled that dispute when the university agreed that its president would recommend her for tenure. As another part of the settlement, the university agreed not to use a critical 2006 Faculty Personnel Committee report in making future personnel decisions.
But when Reyes was denied promotion to full professor in 2009, the new committee report “cited liberally” from the prior adverse report, the suit said.
Reyes claims that White colleagues “with equally low or inferior student satisfaction surveys and with an equal or lower record of scholarship and attainment” received promotions.
The suit includes allegations beyond those related to her unsuccessful bid for promotion. For example, it asserts that minority faculty colleagues were routinely omitted from minutes of department meetings, and it accuses Education Dean Dr. Rebecca Nelson of trying to “rid the department of minorities” and failing to “mentor her or provide constructive feedback,” according to the decision.
Leinenweber dismissed the Title VII claims because Reyes failed to file EEOC complaints on time. He also found no evidence that the university had retaliated for the 2007 EEOC complaint that was settled.
