Haskins v. President & Fellows of Harvard College

13 Mass. L. Rptr. 691
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedSeptember 18, 2001
DocketNo. 993405
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 13 Mass. L. Rptr. 691 (Haskins v. President & Fellows of Harvard College) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haskins v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 13 Mass. L. Rptr. 691 (Mass. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Zobel, J.

Defendants having terminated Plaintiff from a doctoral program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she now alleges discrimination based on failure to accommodate a physical handicap, G.L.c. 93, §103, and for discrimination on the basis of physical or mental disability, G.L.c. 272, §98.

The Harvard Graduate School of Education (“HGSE”), an academic unit within Harvard University (“Harvard”), is a private institution of higher education, offering instruction in (among other fields) Administration, Planning and Social Policy (“APSP”).

APSP doctoral students may select from among six specialized course concentrations. One, the Urban Superintendents Program (“USP"), is an intensive reg[692]*692imen preparing individuals for top leadership positions in big-city school systems.

To remain in APSP, a student must maintain an overall B-plus average. Retention also depends on: (a) faculty evaluation of student performance; and (b) faculty assessment of the student’s capacity for undertaking a dissertation. APSP faculty may also place a student on academic probation if the student's lack of progress warrants. Finally, the faculty may terminate a student from APSP for failure to improve.

Defendants Robert Peterkin (“Peterkin”) and Linda Wing (“Wing”) are lecturers and co-directors of the USP; they teach a course called Professional Seminar (“Proseminar”), required for all students in the USP. Any participant achieving a grade of B plus or better may take a six-month internship in an urban school district.

In July 1996, Plaintiff (“Haskins”) enrolled as an APSP doctoral candidate in the USP. During the summer and fall terms 1996, she experienced academic difficulties, failing a midterm examination in Microeconomics. The quality of Haskins’ work in Proseminar also troubled Peterkin and Wing.

On February 28, 1997, the APSP faculty sent Has-kins a “letter of concern," indicating uneasiness about her ability to complete course work and a dissertation. Haskins continued to perform poorly in the spring of 1997; her grades were even lower than in preceding terms.

Before arriving at Harvard in 1996, Haskins had undergone abdominal surgery. As a result, while there, she experienced muscle weakness in her legs and tingling in legs and fingers. She does not, however, contend that these symptoms constitute the disability that is the subject of the present dispute.

In the spring of 1997, although Haskins disclosed to Peterkin and Wing a medical problem necessitating further surgery, she did not reveal the diagnosis (“possible multiple sclerosis”). To accommodate her need for surgery, Peterkin, Wing, and Haskins agreed that Haskins would take the 1997 summer term off, and that she would receive an “incomplete” in Proseminar.

To complete the USP, Peterkin and Wing advised that Haskins: (a) postpone the required internship to the Spring 1998 semester; (b) enroll in certain academic courses during the Fall 1997 semester; and (c) finish Proseminar on an independent study basis. Haskins would have until December 18, 1997 to complete the final Proseminar paper, and would have to earn at least a B plus to advance to the internship.

Professor Richard Murnane (“Murnane”), APSP Chair, approved the Peterkin-Wing recommendation.

During the 1996-97 school year, Haskins’ barely maintaining the required B plus average caused the APSP faculty to doubt her ability to undertake a dissertation; she went on academic probation in June 1997.

At this point, no one at HGSE knew that Haskins might have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. However, on September 25, 1997, Anna L. Davol. M.D., wrote Murnane informing him of the 1993-1994 diagnosis. In early October 1997, Peterkin and Wing both received a copy of Dr. Davol’s letter. It is this diagnosis which Haskins contends renders her a disabled person.

Up to this point, Haskins had not requested any accommodation to help her meet the USP academic standards. She continued, however, to perform poorly in her course work during the fall of 1997.

Peterkin determined that it was “impossible and impractical” for Haskins to continue in the USP, a conclusion he reached before Haskins had completed some of her fall courses and before she had turned in her Proseminar final paper.

Meeting on December 3, 1997 with Haskins and Wing, Peterkin informed Haskins that she could not continue in the USP and would not receive a stipend for an internship.

At a faculty meeting on January 26, 1998, the APSP faculty voted to terminate Haskins’ enrollment. Nonetheless, at the request of Haskins’ faculty advisor, Professor Charles Willie (“Willie”), the faculty deferred the termination pending an exploration with Haskins of other options.

Accordingly, Murnane arranged a meeting with Haskins and Willie at which he proposed that Haskins take a medical leave of absence and return to complete the remaining course work and dissertation required for a doctoral degree in the APSP core program, as opposed to the specific USP concentration.

When Haskins asked why she could not remain in the USP, Murnane said that Peterkin informed him that Haskins had been terminated from the USP because she was not physically able to go on an internship.

On January 28, 1998, Peterkin and Wing notified Haskins that, based upon her final paper in Proseminar-, she had received a final grade of B in the class, although they described the paper as the best piece of work she had done for Proseminar. However, because her grade was below B plus, she was ineligible for the USP internship.

On February 6, 1998, Haskins met with Peterkin and Wing to clarify her status in the USP. They told her that because of her grades in Proseminar and other courses she could not continue in the USP.

On April 13, 1998, Haskins informed Murnane by letter that she was prepared to take a one-semester medical leave, but that she wanted to complete the USP upon her return and would do whatever was necessary to complete the USP, including retaking courses.

Haskins’ medical leave was approved in May 1998. She has not since returned to Harvard.

[693]*693By statute, G.L.c. 272, §98, Massachusetts prohibits discrimination based on physical disability in any “place of public accommodation, resort or amusement," i.e., “any place, whether licensed or unlicensed, which is open to and accepts or solicits the patronage of the general public,” G.L.c. 272, §92A. The statute provides a nonexclusive list of examples, without limiting the generality of the definition. See id.

Because this statute is broadly remedial in purpose, courts should not read the list of examples narrowly. See, Local Finance Co. v. Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, 355 Mass. 10, 13 (1968). The principles of ejusdem generis and noscitur a sociis do not apply. See, id. Even so, the list of examples patently does not include anything akin to educational facilities or academic programs. This should be compared with the Americans With Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §12181(7)(J) (1995), which specifically defines public accommodation to include secondary, undergraduate, and post-graduate private schools.

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Bluebook (online)
13 Mass. L. Rptr. 691, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haskins-v-president-fellows-of-harvard-college-masssuperct-2001.