Nondiscrimination Law What Factual Information

¶ … Nondiscrimination Law

What factual information does the administration need before making the decision? What legal information does it need?

According to the stipulations of the case study, the maximum possible efforts were made to solicit a more diverse pool of candidates. The resumes of the applicants, the diverse range of sources where advertisements for the position were posted, and also data about the lack of women in the field in general might all be ways of proving that the school did not discriminate against women in its search. The female professor's formal, written request for a specific salary, compared with a budget for the department would demonstrate that the request was not reasonable, given the financial limitations the department was operating under. Also, if a male hire is made, the salary of that individual must be within the budget, and not the same or higher than the female candidate's.

The department must also be able to show that it did not engage in a form of indirect discrimination -- such as making the position less attractive to women faculty members by requiring them to work late at night, even when not strictly necessary, which might make the job more difficult for women, who are more often the primary caretakers of their family.

Finally, the department must show that it has not operated a long-standing policy of discrimination against women, and made good faith efforts to hire female faculty in general. Again, providing records about previous job searches and demographic information about the field in general would be helpful.

What decision should the school make? To what extent is this decision based on legal considerations? Policy considerations?

There are other ways to attract qualified candidates than raising salaries. Offering more benefits, flexible hours, or additional support for independent research might attract women faculty applicants. The department could petition for more money, and explain the situation to the board to hire Dr. Gemini. If the board refuses, non-tenure track staff, such as teaching assistants and adjunct instructors, could fill the gap until a qualified female faculty member was found. Qualified female instructors in other departments could teach courses, to diversify the faculty using an in-house strategy. Bankrupting the department for one faculty member seems unwise, and defeats the purpose of leaving the department open to hiring new tenure-track professors regardless of gender -- where will the money come from?

The department does not wish to appear discriminatory, however, to the academic community at large. Recruiting new students to the department, supporting women in science through discussions and inviting prominent women in the field to speak to majors are all ways to provide role models to young women in science and improve the public relations image of the department across the university.

Would the legal issues change if Dr. Gemini had not received an outside offer, but merely demanded a bigger salary and threatened to leave if the university didn't comply?