Opinion ID: 161366
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of Research Associate Position

Text: In May of her terminal year, just days before the end of her employment at KU, Dr. Aquilino learned that she had been awarded a prestigious research grant from the American Association of University Women. It was unclear at the time whether she would have to retain some sort of university affiliation to accept the grant. She immediately began discussions with officials from KU’s Hall Center for the Humanities in an effort to secure an appointment there as an adjunct research associate. Several weeks after her termination, the Hall Center formally asked a university provost to grant Dr. Aquilino the unpaid, non-benefit-eligible appointment. The provost rejected the Hall Center’s request, relying in large part on the same reason given for denying Dr. Aquilino ad hoc membership on the -11- graduate faculty, that is, any such appointment would have been inconsistent with the university’s decision to deny her tenure. Dr. Aquilino again argues that this denial constitutes an adverse employment action because it harmed her future employment prospects. She points to her trial testimony, which detailed how the denial of any university affiliation deprived her of the opportunity to pursue an alternative career path as a private scholar, one in which she could support herself by attracting scholarly grants and other awards. She testified that the university’s refusal limited the number of national grants for which she is eligible, since many government agencies and private foundations require university affiliation as a condition of any grant. KU argues that Dr. Aquilino presented no evidence for these claims apart from her own conclusory opinion. We agree with the university. Dr. Aquilino’s alternative-career-path theory rests on little more than her own, untested belief that she could remake herself as a private academic. Speculative harm does not constitute adverse employment action. See Trimmer v. United States Dep’t of Labor , 174 F.3d 1098, 1103-04 (10th Cir. 1999) (in a case arising under a federal whistle blower statute, holding that employee’s evidence concerning future employment harm was too speculative to constitute adverse employment action). Dr. Aquilino offered no expert testimony supporting her alternate-career-path theory, nor did she present -12- evidence showing that other academics had successfully continued their scholarly careers in her proposed manner, particularly after they were denied tenure. In short, she did not demonstrate that it was the university’s denial of the research associate position—rather than the tenure denial—that dashed her hopes of becoming a private academic. Furthermore, there is no indication in the record that Dr. Aquilino lost any grant because of the university’s decision. Indeed, it appears that despite the lack of university affiliation, she retained even the grant from the American Association of University Women. The district court’s denial of the University of Kansas’s Rule 50 motion is REVERSED and the case is REMANDED for entry of judgment as a matter of law in favor of the University of Kansas. -13-