Judge Beckwith said Xavier's Communications Arts Department was plagued with faculty disputes an infighting:
"This case arises from or at least coincides with the appointment of Professor Indira DeSilva to the position of chair of the Communications Art Department in 2003. The record fairly reflects that the Communications Arts Department was factionalized and beset by in-fighting among its faculty. The lack of collegiality among the staff is a central issue in this because because Xavier claims that [the fired professors] were jointly responsible for the dysfunctional atmosphere in the department and that is the reason they were eventually dismissed. Plaintiffs deny that they were the source of the dysfunction but nevertheless contend that the Communications Arts Department was no different from other departments, such as the Marketing Department, which supposedly had a reputation for demonstrative disagreements among its faculty . . .
"Plaintiffs filed formal discrimination complaints against DeSilva with the University in February 2007. The continuing conflict within the Communications Arts Department and counter-charges of discrimination between Plaintiffs and DeSilva led . . . to . . . an ad hoc committee comprised of several Xavier faculty members and a professor from the staff of Northern Kentucky University to investigate the inner workings of the entire department. Plaintiffs, however, contend, that the ad hoc committee was not formed to investigate the department or their discrimination complaints. Rather, Plaintiffs alleged that the ad hoc committee was formed to investigate them in retaliation for their complaints against DeSilva. The ad hoc committee not only determined that DeSilva did not discriminate against Plaintiffs, it recommended that the University should institute formal termination proceedings against them for gross dereliction in carrying out their ethical responsibilities to the University."
The Case No. is 1:07-cv-00987, Miriam Finch et al v. Xavier University et al, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Xavier is represented by Peter Cassaday, Kristen Marie Myers and Brian Redden of the law firm Beckman, Weil, Shepardson & Faller LLC. The terminated professors are represented by Robert Gutzwiller and Joseph Krause, of Clodfelter & Gutzwiller.
This is very interesting news. I will be interested to see how this plays out.
ReplyDeleteSettlement got to be a strong possibility. Long trial would be expensive for both sides. Pre-trial depos exhaustive and exhausting. Eat up lots of time for Xavier faculty and admin.
ReplyDeleteIf the XU case goes to trial, it will be messy and probably nasty. Seemingly innocent remarks will take on malign implications. Personal differences will become vendettas. The toxin will spread beyond the Communications Department in ways the litigants cannot imagine. XU shouldn’t be surprised if its faculty divides and students take notice to the school’s detriment.
ReplyDeleteThe most prominent case of its kind in Cincinnati involved Assistant Professor Kathryn Gutzwiller’s fight against denial of promotion and tenure in the UC classics department. It went beyond rejection and her desire for a job. UC’s classics department is uncommonly rich, based on ancient grants, and its library was vital to the career she was pursuing; she wanted to study and teach here.
Gutzwiller eventually won and won big, demonstrating at the least that she was treated differently and worse. than male colleagues. Along the way, the male-dominated department’s traditions and practices were exposed to their detriment and the two key faculty members’ integrity was challenged. They said their efforts to encourage and support her eligibility for tenure and promotion were misconstrued. For instance, Gutzwiller was told she should have a second book ready for publication; one usually is enough and there was testimony that at least one tenured faculty colleague never published a book. Contrary to tradition in the college of arts and sciences, the department went outside Gutzwiller’s offered list of references for a hostile, outside scholar whose work she had publicly criticized. That wasn’t the only problem with due process - UC’s rules for tenure and promotion - and the trial was so bitter than the case was transferred to another judge after the initial verdicts. That judge, in Columbus, said he didn’t care whether Gutzwiller won promotion and tenure, but UC must redo the whole process and stick to its own rules this time. Otherwise, contempt of federal court was a likely outcome. Gutzwiller won tenure and promotion to associate professor. Today, she is a full professor.