Harvard Professor suing over denied tenure

Dr. Kimberly Theidon, an anthropology professor, is suing Harvard University, alleging discrimination and retaliation after she spoke out on behalf of victims of sexual assault and criticized the university’s handling of their cases.

“I’m not going to be silent, I was not going to be a dutiful daughter so they denied me tenure and effectively fired me,” said Theidon.

Now she’s blowing the whistle on the university by filing a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination alleging she was discriminated and retaliated against for criticizing the university’s handling of sexual assault cases.

“This case is about the importance of women who are sexually assaulted on campus having someone to go to as the first responder who will not be afraid to help them,” said her attorney Elizabeth Rogers.

“We want Harvard to change their policies,” said attorney Phil Gordon.

A spokesman for the University declined Team 5 Investigates request for an interview, citing the pending litigation.

However, in a written statement, the university told Team 5 it “would never deny tenure due to a faculty member’s advocacy for students who have experienced sexual assault.” Instead, tenure decisions are “based on the quality of a faculty member’s research, teaching and university citizenship.”

“I think in principal that is probably true, but in practice, they violate it often and in my case they violated it,” said Theidon. However she said she doesn’t have any regrets,” I would do it all over again, only I would be louder.”

Read more here. 

 

Call for Nominations: Berger Memorial Prize (Philosophy of Law)

Message from the committee:

The committee depends entirely on nominations for the pool of papers the winner will be selected from. We would be very pleased to have a strong group of papers in feminist legal theory to consider, but won’t have them unless people nominate the papers, so please, if you know of a good piece of feminist legal theory that fits the other requirements, please nominate it!

Deadline June 15, 2014

The Berger Memorial Prize in the philosophy of law, a prize established by the APA in memory of Professor Fred Berger of the University of California at Davis, is awarded every other year in odd years. The prize was made possible by gifts to the APA from Professor Berger’s friends, relatives, and colleagues following his untimely death in 1986. The prize is awarded to an outstanding published article in philosophy of law by a member of the association.

Award

The prize, including a cash award of $500, is presented at the meeting of the Pacific Division of the APA, of which Professor Berger was an active member. If suitable arrangements can be worked out between the winning author and the program committee for the Pacific Division meeting, he/she will be invited to participate in a special symposium on the topics of the winning article at that meeting.

Criteria

Submitted articles may have been published in philosophy serials, law reviews, political science serials, serials in other related fields, or regularly published anthologies such as Nomos or AMINTAPHIL volumes. Articles or chapters which have been published only in non-serial or non-periodical collections or anthologies are excluded. Articles published in 2012 or 2013 are eligible for consideration for the 2015 prize. Members of the APA committee on philosophy and law who will select the winning article are not eligible for consideration. Eligibility of published articles is governed by the date shown on the publication, not by the date of actual printing or mailing. Questions may be directed to prizes@apaonline.org .

Nominations

The nominee must be an APA member in good standing. Nominators need not verify the author’s membership status in the APA, but they may wish to suggest that those whose work they are nominating join or renew their membership with the APA. Nominations may be made by the author, the editor, another APA member, or any other individual. If an article was originally published in a language other than English, that submission should be accompanied by a translation into English of quality suitable for publication.

How claims about sexual assault, gender discrimination at the federal level are processed.

From the CHE. Having myself filed a complaint, I can say it looks accurate. It is a long and exhausting process. If you are fortunate enough to settle, signing a non-disclosure agreement can seem worth it.
I’m writing this at the Houston ‘international’ airport. I hope to get back to this before the day ends.

Fillosophie at Montreal

Look at this fantastic initiative by philosophy students at the University of Quebec at Montreal, Fillosophie:

Our goal is to foster the active presence of women in philosophy and encourage them to do research in the field. […] Women have an important role in philosophy and this is what Fillosophie would like to show. We would love for female undergraduates, especially those who intend to continue their studies in philosophy, to notice the presence of women in the department and to realize that women are active in the philosophical milieu in all levels of study and research.

and

We find it necessary for women to be more assertive in their work environment. Thus, through our events, we wish to promote the active presence of women and the success of their research in the department, while also creating a welcoming environment and a safe space for all philosophy students.

Excellent!

HT to @alineramos and @SWIPAnalytic