Opinion ID: 533563
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Order to Grant Tenure

Text: 115 We turn now to the matter of the district court's order that the University reinstate Brown with tenure. Courts have quite rarely awarded tenure as a remedy for unlawful discrimination, and those that have, have done so under circumstances distinguishable from those here. 21 The University argues that tenure is a significantly more intrusive remedy than remedies ordinarily awarded in Title VII cases, such as reinstatement or seniority, because a judicial tenure award mandates a lifetime relationship between the University and the professor. The University further contends that due to the intrusiveness of tenure awards and the First Amendment interest in academic freedom, a court should not award tenure unless there is no dispute as to a professor's qualifications. Thus, the University concludes, the district court should not have awarded tenure to Brown, because there existed a dispute as to her qualifications. 116 We agree that courts should be extremely wary of intruding into the world of university tenure decisions, Kumar, 774 F.2d at 12, (Campbell, C.J., concurring). However, once a university has been found to have impermissibly discriminated in making a tenure decision, as here, the University's prerogative to make tenure decisions must be subordinated to the goals embodied in Title VII. The Supreme Court has ruled that the remedial provision of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5 (1982), 22 requires courts to fashion the most complete relief possible for victims of discriminatory employment decisions. Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 421, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 2373, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975). Once Title VII liability has been imposed, a court should deny make whole relief only for reasons which, if applied generally, would not frustrate the central statutory purposes of eradicating discrimination throughout the economy and making persons whole for injuries suffered through past discrimination. Id. 117 We see no reason to deny Brown such make whole relief here. We disagree with the University's characterization of the tenure award as an infringement on its First Amendment right to determine for itself who may teach. In often-quoted language, Justice Frankfurter defined academic freedom as  'an atmosphere in which there prevail the four essential freedoms of a university--to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study.'  Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234, 263, 77 S.Ct. 1203, 1218, 1 L.Ed.2d 1311 (1957) (Frankfurter, J., concurring in result) (emphasis added) (quoting from a statement of a conference of senior scholars from the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand, including A. v. d. S. Centlivres and Richard Feetham, as Chancellors of the respective universities). Academic freedom does not include the freedom to discriminate against tenure candidates on the basis of sex or other impermissible grounds. See Powell v. Syracuse University, 580 F.2d 1150, 1154 (2d Cir.1978). Our decisions in this area have formulated a university's prerogatives similarly. While we have been and remain hesitant to interfere with universities' independent judgment in choosing their faculty, we have said that we will respect universities' judgment only so long as they do not discriminate. Kumar, 774 F.2d at 12, (Campbell, C.J., concurring). 118 The University also argues that the special needs of academic institutions counsel imposition of less restrictive alternative remedies. However, the University suggests none. Some amici suggest that Brown be reinstated for a three year probationary period, or be subjected to a non-discriminatory tenure decision. Aside from the impracticality of the latter, well over eight years after the original decision, these suggestions fall far short of remedies which will make Brown whole. According to the jury's verdict, she was offered the three year extension because of discrimination. The jury found that, but for sex discrimination, Brown would immediately have been granted tenure. Awarding her tenure is the only way to provide her the most complete relief possible. See Albemarle Paper Co., 422 U.S. at 421, 95 S.Ct. at 2373. 119 The conclusion that tenure is an appropriate Title VII remedy is borne out by the statute's legislative history. In 1972, Congress both amended the remedial portion of Title VII, granting courts broad discretion to fashion make whole remedies, and removed the then-existing Title VII exemption for educational institutions. A Congressional report notes, women have long been invited to participate in the academic process, but without the prospect of gaining employment as serious scholars. H.R.Rep. No. 238, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in 1972 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2137, 2154-55. The process of becoming a serious scholar necessarily includes a fair opportunity to become tenured, because tenure serves to ensure academic freedom, by allowing  'a faculty member to teach, study, and act free from a large number of restraints and pressures which otherwise would inhibit independent thought and action.'  Note, Tenure and Partnership As Title VII Remedies, 94 Harv.L.Rev. 457, 474 & n. 104 (1980) (quoting C. Byse & L. Joughin, Tenure in American Higher Education 2 (1959)). Thus, to deny tenure because of the intrusiveness of the remedy and because of the University's interest in making its own tenure decisions would frustrate Title VII's purpose of making persons whole for injuries suffered through past discrimination. Albemarle Paper Co., 422 U.S. at 421, 95 S.Ct. at 2373. We add that Brown's near unanimous endorsement by colleagues within and without her department suggest strongly that there are no issues of collegiality or the like which might make the granting of tenure inappropriate. 120