Updated: October 14, 2009
The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund, a program of the AAUW Educational Foundation, works to combat sex discrimination through strategic litigation, community and campus outreach programs, an online resource library, online advocacy tools, and research reports.
WASHINGTON - A plaintiff supported by the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund has won her latest legal battle over allegations of sex-based pay discrimination at Berea College in Kentucky. Claire Schuster, a tenured associate professor of nursing, sued the institution for sex discrimination in pay in violation of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act.
The Kentucky Supreme Court issued an Aug. 19th ruling in favor of Schuster, denying Berea College's motion for Discretionary Review of the decision of the Court of Appeals in Professor Schuster's favor, remanding for a new trial. Her next state trial court date, at which her lawyers can now use important discovery, has not been set.
"AAUW is pleased that this latest ruling will help move the Schuster case forward. We stand with Claire and support her right to a trial on her claim for fair treatment," said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE. "It's past time that employers treat their employees fairly, regardless of gender, but far too often women still face harassment and discrimination in the workplace. That can never be tolerated, but feels especially egregious in these tough economic times."
Enthusiastically embraced by the AAUW community, Schuster has traveled to various AAUW events to update members on her case, which AAUW has supported since 2003. Schuster said she was relieved to find that she "was not the only one who felt like this was worth fighting for" and that "a national organization recognizes that what happened was very wrong."
Schuster alleged, in part, that Berea's all-female nursing department had hired its first male faculty member at a salary that exceeded the salaries paid to female nursing faculty members, and that he had been hired directly into the associate professor rank despite his lack of required experience.
Berea College charges no tuition and admits only academically promising students, primarily from Appalachia with limited economic resources. It has recently received a four year, $214,000 grant for its GEAR UP program to increase the number of women and underrepresented populations in science, technology, engineering, and math (or STEM) fields. These funds are provided by the Department of Education through the Women's Educational Equity Act; this program promotes better enforcement of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program receiving federal funds.
"AAUW has long advocated for strengthening STEM education for girls and other underrepresented populations to encourage their entry into these high wage careers," said Lisa Maatz, AAUW director of public policy and government relations. "However, it's not difficult to see the irony in the fact that these federal dollars come to Berea College at a time when it is facing a lawsuit suggesting that it is not doing right by the women already working in these fields."
View the full case summary of Schuster v. Berea College.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for October 14, 2009.
The newly designed ALF pin for 2009 is available for a contribution of $100 during the 2009 calendar year.
This week, AAUW signed on to an amicus brief that will be filed with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in a sexual harassment case, Harris v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City. Ms. Harris encountered persistent harassment in her job at the Baltimore Department of Public Works, including being called inappropriate names and being forced to sit at a table covered in pornographic images of women. The federal district court awarded summary judgment to the city on Harris's hostile work environment claim, finding that the treatment Harris endured was not perpetrated "because of sex" and was not sufficiently severe or pervasive. The amicus brief, authored by the National Partnership for Women and Families, argues that the federal district court improperly discounted evidence that harassment was directed at Ms. Harris, and that in any case, actions not specifically directed at a plaintiff should be considered in determining whether sexual harassment meets the standard of severe or pervasive. Further, it argues that displays of pornography and use of certain offensive epithets are inherently gender-motivated harassment.
AAUW opposes all forms of sexual discrimination, particularly in the workplace. Women subjected to gender harassment must have all remedies available to them to combat the effects of hostile work environments.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for June 12, 2009.
The National Committee on Pay Equity, in conjunction with AAUW and our coalition partners, announced this week that the next Equal Pay Day will be April 20, 2010. The date symbolizes how far into 2010 women must work to earn what men earned in 2009. As always, it falls on a Tuesday, which represents how far into the work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week. Build upon your branch's success from this year and start planning Equal Pay Day 2010 now!
Equal Pay Day is coming up and AAUW is gearing up to celebrate in full force. Check out AAUW's new Equal Pay Day webpage that has great resources for AAUW members to spread the word about your Equal Pay Day event, telling your Senator or Representative to Keep the Change Until Women have Real Change, and information on AAUW's lead in the fight for pay equity.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for April 10, 2009.
Mothers, sisters, teachers, neighbors, daughters, friends ... We all know women who have touched our lives in a very special way. On Saturday, May 30, you are invited to honor a significant woman in your life at the third annual AAUW Garden of Tributes. As part of our annual meeting at Thatcher Hall, SUNY Potsdam, members can bring a tribute honoring the woman of your choice. These tributes can include a photo, a letter, a poem, a drawing, or a brief history (all in 8.5 x 11 size). Each tribute will be protected by plastic sleeves and placed in a special AAUW Garden of Tributes book.
Along with the tribute, please bring a donation (in an amount of your choosing) to the Legal Advocacy Fund to continue the important work that AAUW does on behalf of woman in Education and Equity. Help fill our Garden with Tributes and keep the good work moving forward!
This week, AAUW signed onto an amicus brief in support of the defendants in Ricci v. DeStefano, a case in which the Supreme Court will soon hear arguments. The case originated in 2003, when the city of New Haven, Connecticut administered exams for promotions within the town's fire department. Because the test results would have led to an almost all-white team receiving promotions, the city refused to certify the results and grant the promotions, out of fear that the tests were discriminatory in some way. Subsequently, a group of 20 white firefighters and one Hispanic firefighter (mostly those who had passed the test and were thus in line for the promotions) sued New Haven, arguing that their Title VII rights protecting them against employment discrimination had been violated. In essence, they alleged reverse discrimination. New Haven argued that their actions prevented the certification of an exam that had had a disparate impact on a protected class under Title VII. Both a federal district court and the second circuit court of appeals dismissed the lawsuit.
If the Court were to find in favor of the petitioners, it would severely chill efforts by employers to comply with Title VII and eliminate sex-based barriers in employment. As was seen with the Ledbetter case, precedents that impact one protected class under Title VII affect them all. The brief that AAUW signed will describe historical and current barriers women have faced in fire departments and in other employment settings. It will further point out the significant impact of this case on the ability of employers to voluntarily remedy discriminatory workplace policies and practices against women. An adverse decision in the Ricci case, for example, could require employers to maintain discriminatory tests. The brief will be significant both because it is important that the women's community show support for the employer's efforts to remedy discrimination and because it will focus on the impact of the case on principles of sex discrimination.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for March 20, 2009.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) Board of Directors votes at the June Convention in Boston, MA to for the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund as a two-year pilot program to provide moral and financial support to female plaintiffs in higher education sex discrimination cases. LAF national office staff is an extension of the Public Policy department at AAUW.
AAUW directs the Board of Directors to establish a permanent Legal Advocacy Fund. To date, LAF has contributed $8,500 to the Cornell 11 (Zahorik, et al. v. Cornell University) and has granted support status to two additional cases: Penk, et al. v. Oregon State Board of Higher Education and Haffer v. Temple University.
With a generous contribution from LAF-supported plaintiff Colleen Roberts (Roberts v. College of the Desert), the LAF Board of Directors began making grants to fund travel for LAF plaintiffs to speak at state and regional AAUW meetings. Based on the enthusiastic response, LAF continues to make a limited number of Plaintiff Travel Grants each year.
LAF supported its first case - Lever v. Northwestern University, et al. - to go to the Supreme Court, a case based on sex discrimination and denial of tenure in violation of Title VII of the Civil Right Act of 1964.
LAF Update begins as a single page article in the winter issue of AAUW Outlook.
LAF recognizes Lani Guinier as its first Speaking Out for Justice honoree at the AAUW June Convention in Los Angeles, CA. Lani Guinier's 1993 nomination as assistant attorney general for civil rights in the U.S. Department of Justice was withdrawn in a climate of intense controversy. Guinier argued that the existing legal education program in our country serves neither the needs of current students nor the legal profession. LAF continues to present this award biennially during the AAUW Convention to those who have made a significant contribution to the betterment and well-being of women and whose focus of achievement agrees with the AAUW mission and that of LAF.
LAF makes headlines with Brzonkala v. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, et al., a landmark rape case that went to the Supreme Court. Brzonkala sued for sexual harassment under Title IX and also for disparate treatment.
LAF releases A License for Bias: Sex Discrimination, Schools and Title IX, a publication issued to dispel the belief that Title IX is a sports equity law and to determine the effectiveness of the current legislation.
Network News, an online publication for LAF network attorneys and experts providing case updates and related information is launched.
Tenure Denied: Cases of Sex Discrimination in Academia is released, a research report published jointly with LAF and the AAUW Educational Foundation.
LAF supported plaintiff, Dr. Janet Conney is awarded $4 million from her sex discrimination suit again the Regents of the University of California. Conney had sued the university, along with three former male colleagues, for sexual harassment, retaliation, and pay inequity.
White and male junior faculty members experience a better campus climate than do their minority and female counterparts, according to the results of a study Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), a research project based at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. A section examining numerous aspects of the climate, culture, and collegiality of the workplace revealed differences of opinion between male faculty members and their female counterparts and between white faculty and faculty of color. For example, with the exception of their level of satisfaction regarding personal and professional interaction with other junior faculty colleagues, female faculty members felt less satisfied than males with all of the other key climate variables. Without exception, faculty of color gave all climate aspects lower marks than did their white counterparts.
"We see female faculty and faculty of color expressing significantly less satisfaction in regards to how well they 'fit,'" said Trower. "Issues of inequity, in regards to how junior faculty members are treated within each department and how immediate supervisors evaluate their work, seem to be contributing to this problem. Without changes aimed at correcting these feelings of dissatisfaction, it is likely that colleges will continue to struggle to retain men and women of color in all disciplines and white women in fields in which they have been historically under-represented, like science and engineering."
The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund is the nation's largest legal fund focused solely on sex discrimination in higher education. Since 1981, the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund has helped students, faculty, staff, and administrators in higher education challenge discriminatory practices such as sexual harassment, denial of tenure or promotion, pay inequity, and inequality in women's athletics programs.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for August 3, 2007.
The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Volunteer Legal Network is made up of over 300 participants in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Network participants provide current and potential plaintiffs with information, consultations, and legal representation. Twice a year LAF provides network participants with Network News, an electronic newsletter keeping them abreast of LAF supported cases as well as recent precedent setting cases in employment discrimination and higher education law. This link will take you to the latest edition of the newsletter, another of LAF's critical services that supports our efforts toward equity and education for women and girls.
On Tuesday, Jan. 24 the AAUW Educational Foundation will release the most comprehensive research to date on sexual harassment on college campuses at a press conference in Washington, D.C. Drawing the Line: Sexual Harassment on Campus analyzes findings from a nationally representative survey of undergraduate college students, which documents that the majority of college students report being sexually harassed, and nearly one-third report some type of physical harassment such as being touched, grabbed or forced to do something sexual. Additional resources on this issue will be available on AAUW’s website beginning on Jan. 24 to coincide with the press conference.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for January 13, 2006
As a part of AAUW’s new programmatic theme, “Education as the Gateway to Women’s Economic Security,” AAUW has developed a new campus initiative: Building a Harassment-Free Campus. Information regarding this initiative and the Campus Action Project focused on Building a Harassment-Free Campus is available online.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for October 6, 2005
The National Women's Law Center is proud to announce the unveiling of an exciting campaign to educate the public about the 10 key areas covered by Title IX. The Exercise Your Rights campaign is the result of NWLC Board Member Deborah Slaner Larkin's creative vision and commitment to pursuing gender equity in education. The campaign is a powerful tool for change that includes a two-minute professionally produced video describing Title IX and its application beyond athletics; nine magazine and three radio ads addressing several of the 10 key areas of Title IX; a pocket sized Title IX primer; and other materials. These materials not only explain Title IX and how it can help individuals, but they also provide people with ways to take action to preserve this landmark law when it is attacked or threatened with changes.
The campaign is driven by the website, which highlights the 10 key areas covered by Title IX: Access to Higher Education, Athletics, Career Education, Education for Pregnant and Parenting Students, Employment, Learning Environment, Math and Science, Sexual Harrassment, Standardized Testing, and Technology. It also includes an overview of educational life before Title IX; and the progress made since the law was enacted, problems that still exist, case studies to illustrate how the issues could personally affect the readers or their communities, and links to more detailed information on the 10 major areas, organizations working on the issues, and key resources.
AAUW Educational Foundation and AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund jointly researched and published Tenure Denied, which details the stories of women who took their fight for tenure to the courts and provides a personal look into the toll it takes on these women's lives and careers.
Despite remarkable strides in closing the gender gap, women continue to face sex discrimination when seeking tenure and face an uphill battle by taking on the Ivory Tower of academia, according to a new report released Oct. 19 by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation and the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund. Tenure Denied: Cases of Sex Discrimination in Academia, details the stories of women who took their fight for tenure to the courts and provides a personal look into the toll it takes on these women's lives and careers.
Research shows that in an academic setting, compared to men, on average, women earn less, hold lower-ranking positions, and are less likely to have tenure. Of the faculty at colleges and universities offering four-year degrees, only 27 percent of those awarded tenure are women. A lack of transparency, unclear standards, and biased behavior and decision-making in the tenure process contribute to this problem.
Tenure Denied: Cases of Sex Discrimination in Academia (2004) is a qualitative research report based on the Legal Advocacy Fund's archive of sex discrimination cases. Drawing on 19 cases, the report describes the difficulty of pinpointing and proving sex discrimination in the tenure promotion process. The report makes no attempt to second-guess the courts' decisions in these cases but rather poses some hard questions raised by these cases: How can women-and other underrepresented faculty-break into highly centralized power systems where standards are self-referential and tightly controlled by a conventional "old boys'" network? What can universities learn about their systems and practices of hiring and promotion? And what is the message for policy-makers considering new programs to end sex discrimination in academia and other places of employment?
The final chapter presents recommendations for universities and female faculty, with the overarching aim of preventing the need for sex discrimination suits in the first place.
AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund receives numerous inquiries from students, faculty, staff, researchers and the general public regarding Sexual Assault on College Campuses. To address this need and support its mission to educate the public about problems facing women in higher education, LAF launched a new online resource that provides useful information on sexual assault statistics, tips and models for improving awareness and accountability on campus, and further resources addressing this issue. The resource also includes information on how Title IX can be used to combat sexual assault on campus.