A federal appeals court has declined to reinstate a national origin discrimination suit by a former faculty member of Japanese ancestry against Goddard College in Vermont.
Judy Hiramoto, whose was denied a five-year reappointment to the graduate faculty in fine arts, failed to provide enough evidence for the case to proceed, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.
According to the court, Goddard opted not to renew her appointment based on a 2011 comprehensive performance evaluation that incorporated her self-evaluation, reviews by two faculty peers and summaries of prior annual evaluations.
The comprehensive evaluation cited “sustained, unresolved concerns” about her “inability to perform the duties” of the position such as a “lack of engagement with her students’ work,” failure to provide appropriate feedback to students and an “unwillingness to engage in professional development.”
She sued the college under Vermont’s civil rights law, and a federal judge dismissed it without trial.
The appellate court rebuffed her argument that the 2011 evaluation had improperly considered a 2006 peer evaluation and student complaints from 2009.
