Diverse Docket: Judge Allows Professor to Pursue Retaliation Claim Against NCCU

A female professor who was passed over as chair of the School of Mass Communication can pursue a retaliation claim against North Carolina Central University but not claims for sex discrimination or a hostile work environment, a federal judge in Greensboro has ruled.

Dr. Charmaine  McKissick-Melton joined the faculty in 2007 and was appointed interim chair in 2013. She claims the male dean of the College of Arts and Sciences promised at that time to make the appointment permanent.

After a year in the interim position without a permanent appointment, she complained to the chancellor, provost and dean about the dean’s allegedly discriminatory conduct.

Two weeks later, the dean selected a man as school chair.

McKissick-Melton’s EEOC complaint alleged only that the dean had “displayed aggressive behavior toward me and another female colleague.”

She then filed a Title VII suit.

In dismissing the gender discrimination claim, U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles said McKissick-Melton failed to produce enough evidence that the 2014 decision to name a man to chair the school was motivated by gender bias.