A federal judge in Ohio has rejected a race discrimination suit by a Miami University engineering faculty member who was denied tenure on the basis of insufficient research.
U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel said Dr. Marvin Thrash, who is Black, failed to show that the university’s rationale was a pretext for discrimination and didn’t demonstrate that he was at least as well-qualified as two White faculty members who did receive tenure.
Thrash will appeal, said his lawyer, Marc Mezibov of Cincinnati.
In 2004, Thrash joined the Department of Paper Sciences and Engineering as a tenure-track assistant professor. It was an opportunity hire through a program that created a “financial incentive” for academic departments to increase the number of under-represented minorities among the faculty.”
Six outside evaluators reviewed his candidacy for tenure and submitted a mix of positive, negative and “lukewarm” reviews, the decision said. However, Mezibov said all the evaluations were favorable.
Spiegel said the department’s tenure committee found the application to be “a very marginal case,” although Mezibov said the committee’s written report recommended tenure.
