Volume 3, Issue 1 - Sept. 3, 1980

Page 1

)

Volume3, Issue 1.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ © MetroPress September 3, 1980

..

MSC sued for sex discrimination by Sal Ruibal

Four female employees of Metropolitan State College filed a lawsuit Aug. 27 alleging that MSC * administrators ''intentionally engaged. . .in illegal employment activities which discriminate against" women. The class-action suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver ~nd names four plaintiffs: Pamela ~ :h. Marcum, assistant professor of marketing; Megan McClard·, instructor in the English and women's studies departments; Sharon Niederman, half-time women's studies instructor; and ,.....Eleanor Green, director of the MSC experimental education program. The plaintiffs claim that MSC denies women full-time and tenured positions, that it refuses to recruit, hire, transfer and promote women and that it retaliates against fem ale employees who protest such actions. They are asking the court to order MSC to stop such actions and to provide back pay to female employees affected by them, as well as $500,000 in punitive damages. The women are represented by attorney Lynn D. Feigner, who

has won several judgements in similar sex discrimination cases. Feigner refused ·to comment directly on the case, but did admit that the case is ''based in part on statistical data.'' On April 23, the Women's Caucus submitted a memo to Dr. Michael Howe, MSC vicepresident for academic affairs, containing excerpts from a sevenyear HEGIS ~tudy of personnel actions at the college. According to an analysis of the study, "the percentage of women in the upper two ranks (full and associate professors) has remained consistently low, lower than their percentage of the faculty, while the number of women in the bottom ranks has remained consistently higher than would have been expected. "The pattern of tenured persons in ranks shows that more women are tenured in almost all cases than are men, a fact that indicated longer service, in general, for women.'' The report also states ''there is a consistent pattern of paying women less in all ranks'' and ''the patterns of discrimination against women do not seem to have improved since 197L Indeed, women seem to have suffered

some real losses." . The Women's Caucus told Howe ''women on this campus need to be involved in the decision making in a significant way. It is apparent that women are not presently involved.'' MSC President Donald Macintyre issued a statement on the case through the school's public relations department. It said: "It is extremely difficult and inappropriate for me to comment on a lawsuit I have not seen. As soon as I receive a copy of the

lawsuit and I have an opportunity to review it, I will make a statement.'' At a June 20 meeting of the Trustees of the Consortium of State Colleges MSC's governing board - Macintyre acknowledged the concerns of the Women's Caucus. Official minutes of the meeting quote Macintyre as saying "all efforts are being made to work with this group and correct any deficiencies.'' continued on page 11

It has been a long, hot summer for beleaguered MSC President Donald Macintyre.

Page 5

Polls are no joke· read our 1980 Consumer Gulde to Political Polls.

Page g

Olivia Newton-John muses well, but Xanadu falls short.

Page 18

'--~~-\.·~~~~------'--


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.