Fact Sheet
Julie A. Nelson v. Brandeis University
From the filing of a charge of discrimination (MCAD No. 98-BEM-1205) with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, April 16, 1998:
ATTACHMENT TO CHARGE OF DISCRIMINATION OF
JULIE ANNE NELSON
1. My name is Julie Anne Nelson. I hold a B.A. degree in Economics from St. Olaf College (1978) and M.A. (1982) and Ph.D. (1986) degrees in Economics from the University of Wisconsin. I have previously held positions as a Research Economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and as an Assistant Professor, and then Associate Professor with tenure, at the University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
2. I came to the Brandeis University Department of Economics and Graduate School of International Economics and Finance in the summer of 1995, as an untenured, tenure-track, Associate Professor on a three-year (later changed to four-year) contract. The position was in the area of Applied Microeconomics. My interest in Women’s Studies was also known, and I was encouraged to develop a new course on Gender and Economics. My tenure review was to take place in academic year 1996-97, but I later agreed to the department’s request to defer the review until academic year 1997-98.
3. At Brandeis, tenure may be granted by the board of trustees after review by the candidate’s department, the dean, an ad hoc faculty committee, the provost and the president. Tenure criteria at Brandeis are performance in scholarship, teaching, professional activities, and participation in departmental and university functions. I performed well in each of these areas during my professional career, including my years at Brandeis.
4. During the summer of 1997, during which the tenure review process should have started, I was told by the Chair of the Department of Economics, Professor Tren Dolbear, that the senior faculty of the department did not feel that reviewing me for tenure would be worthwhile. This was in spite of the fact that I made many innovations in the curriculum, my teaching was generally rated as very good by the students, my publication record was acknowledged to be lengthy, I published in prestigious journals, my publishing productivity had continued in my years at Brandeis, and my service to the department, university, profession, and community were within the normal expected ranges. I had never received a negative evaluation from the department. The stated reason for the department’s decision not to conduct a review was that my fields of academic specialization did not "fit" the department’s needs.
5. During the fall of 1997 I protested this denial of a tenure review to the dean. On October 20, 1997, I met with Dean of Arts and Sciences Robin Miller, who verbally stated that she had accepted the department’s decision. Nevertheless, the next day she instructed the department to ask for and examine my publications and the tenure statement I had prepared. On December 16, 1997, Professor Dolbear informed me that the department had not changed their decision to not recommend me for tenure. In a letter dated December 17, 1997, Dean Miller stated that 1998-99 would be my terminal year at Brandeis.
6. The "fit" issue is neither legitimate nor credible. It is not normal practice at Brandeis to use "fit" as a criterion during the last few years before a tenure decision. In fact, my department has indicated that it needs more people in my field of Applied Microeconomics and it is currently recruiting in that area. When I recently asked a senior member of the department how the department could justify hiring in the same field that they were firing me from due to an absence of "fit," the faculty member replied that "Your major strength is Women’s Studies. We would never have looked for someone whose major strength is in Women’s Studies." That statement inaccurately implies that I am not qualified as an Applied Microeconomist.
7. While I also do work in feminist economic theory, my Applied Microeconomics work stands on its own. At UC-Davis - a more highly ranked research department - it was felt that I was tenurable on the basis of that Applied Microeconomics work, without regard to my work in feminist theory. Nor can the Brandeis department legitimately claim to have been misled about the nature of my work at the time it hired me, since I had numerous publications in both areas at the time. I believe that what the senior faculty member’s statement amounts to is that the department counts my feminist work against me.
8. I believe the real reason for the department’s denying me a tenure review is bias against me as a woman, and in particular as a feminist scholar. Men in the department with considerably fewer qualifications in the area of scholarship (and whose qualifications in the areas of teaching and service are not, upon information and belief, appreciably higher than mine) have been tenured in recent years. Upon information and belief, the last four men who came up for tenure in the department were all voted on positively by the department. The only other woman to come up for tenure recently received a negative departmental vote. There are currently 14 members of the department, beside myself, who are tenured or tenure-track. Only one of the 14 is female. My research applying feminist scholarship on the philosophy and methodology of science to the discipline of economics is internationally known. Since some of my work speaks critically about the masculine biases in current disciplinary practices, it would not be surprising if that work sometimes makes conventional economists somewhat uncomfortable. I believe the question of "fit" is, then, really a question of not "fitting in" to a group that is male-dominated both in sex composition and in disciplinary values.
10. Not only was the outcome of this evaluation process biased, but also the process itself was rife with procedural errors which demonstrate a rather dismissive attitude towards my work and my employment rights. I never received the review based on scholarship, teaching, and service that I was promised in my original letter of appointment, but instead was always evaluated primarily on "fit." The department did not request or review my dossier, contrary to normal practice at Brandeis, until after the department had reached a negative decision. The department did not solicit outside letters of evaluation regarding my scholarship, also contrary to Brandeis practice, nor were the reasons for the denial ever put in writing by the dean, as required by Brandeis’ procedures. (On April 13, 1998, some eight or more months beyond the appropriate time, the dean informed me that upon reflection, she was directing the department to seek outside letters of evaluation. However, as far as I have been told, the dean’s notice of termination has not been withdrawn.) The department and administration even went so far as to treat me, for a period of time, as a non-tenure track Associate Professor, in spite of their own letters promising me a tenure review.
11. I believe that Brandeis’ actions set out above constitute discrimination on the basis of sex and violate M.G.L. c. 151B and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-1 et seq. As a consequence of Brandeis’ discrimination, I will lose my job and will have a consequent loss of salary and benefits of employment. Brandeis’ discrimination has also caused me to lose personal and professional reputation and professional opportunities, and I have incurred attorney’s fees and other expenses. I have also suffered emotional distress as a result of the events described above. Brandeis is liable for all my losses.
Signed under the penalties of perjury this 16th day of April, 1998.
Julie A. Nelson
Brief update (as of March 6, 2001)
(Note: This is an informal and non-comprehensive summary in my own words. The source documents are available.)
July 17, 2011: It has since come to my attention that some people are saying that I was never appointed on the tenure track. To dispel this myth, see this letter.
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