Title VII

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Laura J. Hatcher v. Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University et al.

Case No.: 15-1599

Officials: ROVNER and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and SHAH, District Judge

Focus: Title VII

Appellant fails to support claim she was denied tenure due to her gender, however, asserts valid claim for retaliation under title VII.

“It is possible that the dean and provost were harder on Dr. Hatcher than on her male colleagues during tenure review, and some of her colleagues seemed to think that was the case. It should not be a source of pride for SIU that Dr. Hatcher is the first woman to be considered for tenure in the political science department in almost 20 years. The subjectivity of the tenure review process can obscure bias, making it exceedingly difficult to address entrenched inequalities which not only have a negative impact on female faculty with tenure aspirations, but also on the institutions of higher learning that are deprived of their contributions. However, Title VII only permits us to go so far in addressing this problem; in order for a plaintiff to prevail at summary judgment, she cannot simply show she was treated differently. She must provide evidence that creates a material dispute over whether the reason her employer gives for the differential treatment is unworthy of belief. We see no evidence from which a reasonable jury could draw that conclusion here. So the district court did not err in granting summary judgment to SIU on the gender discrimination claim.”

Reversed and Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.