A federal judge in Ohio has rejected a race, gender and sexual orientation discrimination suit by a lesbian African-American instructor whose tenure-track appointment was not renewed at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.
U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith ruled that Alicia Revely failed to offer sufficient evidence to proceed with any of her employment bias claims.
Revely was a tenure-track marketing and management instructor until the college decided against renewing her contract following the fifth year of its six-year tenure process. The college cited her “deficient performance” of out-of-class responsibilities such as student advising, attendance at staff meetings, and participation in student and faculty activities, the decision said.
The college replaced her with another African-American woman.
In throwing out the case, Beckwith said Revely didn’t show that similarly situated White or male tenure-track instructors received more favorable treatment concerning renewal of their teaching contracts.
Nor did statistical evidence support the claims, Beckwith held, noting, for example, that the college has more tenured women than men. And although one other Black instructor was denied a contract renewal, the only other instructor who was turned down for renewal was a White woman.
