A federal judge has cleared Delaware State University of race and gender discrimination and retaliation allegations by a former faculty member who was removed as a department chair after her colleagues voted to oust her.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Sleet also found insufficient evidence to support Dr. Millicent Carvalho-Grevious’ claim that the university retaliated by refusing to reappoint her.
In 2010, Carvalho-Grevious was hired as an associate professor and chair of the Department of Social Work. Soon afterward, “conflicts arose between her and several department faculty and staff,” Sleet wrote. She was the subject of three complaints, and another faculty member asked the university president to step in because she demanded prior approval of the colleague’s emails.
Within a short time after becoming chair, she’d recommended terminating two recently hired faculty members, a department consultant and two staff members, the decision said.
Carvalho-Grevious, in turn, complained to the provost that her supervisor, the interim dean of the College of Education, Health and Public Policy, was interfering with “departmental governance” and “had mounted a campaign to have her removed as chairperson,” according to the decision.
In February 2011, the department faculty voted 5-4 to replace her as chair.
She, in turn, filed a grievance against the interim dean alleging retaliation for her reporting of sexual harassment. She also filed a human resources sexual harassment and retaliation complaint accusing the interim dean of making derogatory statements about African-American women.
