Hunter v. Ward

476 F. Supp. 913, 20 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1643
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 7, 1979
DocketLR-C-79-352
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 476 F. Supp. 913 (Hunter v. Ward) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunter v. Ward, 476 F. Supp. 913, 20 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1643 (E.D. Ark. 1979).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ROY, District Judge.

The plaintiff in this case, Dr. Carolyn F. Hunter, a black female, has moved to preliminarily enjoin the defendants, officials of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, from denying her employment as an instructor on the basic sciences faculty of the school for alleged racially and sexually discriminatory reasons. The plaintiff seeks to invoke the jurisdiction of this court pursuant to the provisions of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983 & 2000e et seq., and 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) & (4). On August 17, 1979, the court conducted an evidentiary hearing with regard to plaintiff’s application for preliminary injunctive relief. At the close of the evidence the court ruled from the bench that the plaintiff’s motion would be granted and that the defendants would be preliminarily enjoined to employ the plaintiff in the position of instructor at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine in the Department of Biochemistry. The court informed the parties at that time that its formal findings and order would be entered at a later date. This opinion is submitted in lieu of separate findings of fact and conclusions of law as the court’s memorandum of decision pursuant to the provisions of Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Dr. Carolyn Frances Hunter is a citizen of the United States and a life long resident of the State of Arkansas. Dr. Hunter has lived in other States during the course of her educational pursuits but currently re *915 sides in Arkansas. Her parents reside in Fairview, Arkansas, a community situated approximately eighty-five (85) miles south of Little Rock. Dr. Hunter attended Spark-man High School in Sparkman, Arkansas from 1966 through 1970. Upon graduation from high school Dr. Hunter enrolled at Henderson State College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Dr. Hunter graduated from Henderson State College in 1974, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree from that institution. During the course of her graduate studies, Dr. Hunter attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for a brief period of time and continued her graduate work at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Dr. Hunter received a Ph.D. degree from the latter institution in 1978. During her tenure as a graduate student at Oklahoma State University, Dr. Hunter maintained an overall grade point average of 3.10 out of a possible grade point average of 4.0 and a 3.5 grade point in her major field of study, biochemistry. Dr. Hunter has engaged in post-doctorial studies at Purdue University where she actively researched cholesterol biosynthesis and the relationship of cholesterol to coronary artery disease. Her current research interests center around the treatment and cure of sickle-cell anemia, a disease which is most prevalent among members of her own race.

Dr. Hunter has approximately five years of research experience. She has worked as a chemistry laboratory assistant at both Henderson State University and Oklahoma State University. She has also worked as a chemist for the Camden Paper Company in Camden, Arkansas and as a biochemist for Phillip’s Petroleum Company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. There is no serious dispute that Dr. Hunter is amply qualified in her chosen field of biochemistry. Indeed, the defendants have so acknowledged in their testimony before this court.

One of the defendants in this case, Dr. Harry Ward, is the Chancellor of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. Dr. Ward’s association with the University of Arkansas is of recent origin inasmuch as his present employment with the University commenced in March of this year. The other named defendant, Dr. Thomas A. Bruce, is the Dean of the School of Medicine. Each of these individuals are responsible for the appointment or employment of faculty members at the University of Arkansas’ College of Medicine. Dr. Bruce, for example, as part of his duties as Dean of the College of Medicine, makes recommendations with regard to the appointment of faculty members to the Chancellor of the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Campus. The Chancellor, Dr. Ward, as part of his official duties, makes recommendations for the appointment of faculty members to the University’s Central Administration, the President of the University of Arkansas and, ultimately, the Board of Trustees.

The customary or usual method of employing a faculty member at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine is as follows: (1) the prospective faculty member participates in interviews with the senior faculty members of the particular department in which employment is sought; (2) the prospective faculty member or applicant interviews with the chairman of the relevant department; (3) after the interview process has run its course, the chairman or head of the department may or may not consult with other faculty members; (4) in some cases the applicant may have an additional interview with the Dean; (5) the actual appointment process is initiated by a recommendation from the chairman of the department involved to the Dean of the College of Medicine; (6) the Dean makes a recommendation to the Chancellor; (7) the Chancellor makes a recommendation to the Central Administration; (8) the recommendation of the relevant officials in the Central Administration office is then forwarded to the President of the University who in turn conveys his recommendation to the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas. The Board then takes whatever action it considers appropriate, action which may or may not include the issuance of a “Notice of Appointment”. The procedures outlined above are, of course, general in *916 nature and are, by no means, cast in concrete. Thus, while most of the employment decisions follow the general pattern, procedures may vary somewhat in individual cases. It is apparent to the court, from the testimony submitted at the evidentiary hearing in this cause, that the upper level administrators in the University system, the Dean, Chancellor, Vice-President, President and, ultimately, the Board of Trustees, rely heavily on the recommendations of department heads or chairmen with regard to the appointment of faculty members. Thus, in the usual course of events, if a position is offered to an applicant at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, it is normally the position suggested or recommended by the particular department head involved.

The plaintiff contends that she was denied employment as an instructor in the Biochemistry Department of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine because of her race and sex. She further contends that University officials, more particularly, Dr. Charles L. Wadkins, the Chairman of the Biochemistry Department at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences campus did not extend professional courtesies to her or treat her in a manner commensurate with her station in the academic community. The latter contentions are based on Dr. Wadkins’ alleged failure to either take the plaintiff to lunch or to arrange for her lunch during her visits to the School of Medicine’s Little Rock campus and to assist the plaintiff in meeting with a sickle cell anemia research team at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Little Rock. The plaintiff intimates that Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
476 F. Supp. 913, 20 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1643, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunter-v-ward-ared-1979.