UPDATED: Dec. 2, 2015 at 8:08 p.m.

A former Syracuse University professor is suing the university for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the presence of discriminatory, “Mad Men”-esque sexism in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Ruth Westervelt, who was a design professor in VPA, claims certain faculty in her department were sexist toward females and discriminated against faculty with disabilities. Westervelt is now seeking up to $300,000 in damages, according to the complaint, filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Westervelt, now a Santa Clara, California resident, was hired as a tenure-track, associate professor at SU in 2009. After receiving consistently negative performance reviews by the design department, she was fired in July 2013.

She argues that she was fired as a form of retaliation against a disability leave she took in 2011. Westervelt suffers from Crohn’s disease, which causes the intestines to become inflamed and in some cases, results in life-threatening internal bleeding, the complaint states.

Westervelt said she believes her performance reviews were written negatively to retaliate against her disability leave and contained deliberately sexist reviews from tenured, male faculty members.

In a section titled “Sexist Men in the Department,” the lawsuit describes a group of “old men,” who are tenured professors in the communications design department that would allegedly make sexist remarks in passing and in performance evaluations.

The lawsuit lists four communications design professors as part of the “Comm Guys” — Robert Cooney, William Padgett, Roderick Martinez and Kenneth Hine. Westervelt mentions one incident in 2009 where Cooney spoke with her and Lucina Havenhand, chair of the design department, in an elevator following a female professor’s presentation.

When asked if he enjoyed the lecture, Cooney allegedly responded that it wasn’t “bad for a woman,” the lawsuit states. Westervelt complained to Havenhand about the comment, to which Havenhand said the “Comm Guys” were a “blast from the past,” but that she could handle them.

None of the “Comm Guys” were immediately available for comment.

Westervelt became worried when Havenhand told her that a negative portion of her performance review was likely written by the “Comm Guys,” according to the complaint. The review was completed in 2010 — Westervelt’s second year — and included faculty comments that she was arrogant, hostile and unfriendly. Havenhand told her the comments came from the “Comm Guys” and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Westervelt felt concerned that their comments might affect her ability to receive tenure, the complaint states. A recent study by a professor at Northeastern University showed that student evaluations are more likely to label female professors as mean, harsh or unfair compared to males — pointing to a possible gender bias in higher education, according to a Feb. 15 Guardian article.

Student and faculty evaluations are often referred to when considering a professor for hiring and promotion, which can be a problem if they are biased, according to the article. Forty-four percent of women hold tenured positions, compared to 62 percent of men, according to a 2012 study by the American Association of University Professors.

The rest of Westervelt’s review was largely positive, describing her as a “rising star” in the communications department.

A few months later in July 2011, Westervelt received a blood transfusion for bleeding in her colon. It was shortly after the transfusion when she told SU that she had Crohn’s disease and would need to go on disability leave.

Westervelt said she felt anxious telling Havenhand about her disease because Havenhand had allegedly criticized other employees on disability leave. In one case, she remarked that she would like to see a specific professor fired and questioned whether another professor’s disability was genuine, according to the lawsuit.

“Professor Havenhand informed Professor Westervelt that she did not like dealing with employees on disability and felt that they were both a nuisance and problem for the institution,” the complaint states.

In Westervelt’s spring 2013 evaluation — her first since returning from disability leave — she noticed the comments were “astoundingly negative,” such as those from faculty claiming she was opinionated, “hard to communicate with” and “not a good collaborator.” She questioned if the comments came from the “Comm Guys,” but Havenhand refused to tell her, the lawsuit states.

The review also referenced her medical leave as the source of her lack of research. In addition to the review, Westervelt argues that Havenhand gave her “new, unreasonable demands” in retaliation to her medical leave, such as submitting work for journals or publications.

Westervelt showed the review to Jen Hamilton, then a professor in the design department, who took part in her evaluation. The complaint states that Hamilton was shocked when she saw the review, saying it was a “substantial distortion” of her actual comments.

Havenhand said in the review that the faculty almost unanimously voted that Westervelt should be fired.

“I have serious doubts about Ruth’s ability to succeed as a faculty member in our particular department,” Havenhand states in the review. “… Because of this, I must agree with the majority of my tenured faculty, who voted unanimously … to not support Ruth’s going forward from the third year in her tenure track position.”

Havenhand was not immediately available for comment.

Westervelt later showed the review to Brian Lonsway, then-chair of the University Senate Committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure and Professional Ethics. Lonsway told her she had certain rights as a tenure-track professor, such as a “clock stoppage” which would discount the time she took off from her performance evaluation.

Lonsway suggested she request a formal inquiry from the committee and also told her that Havenhand’s evaluation of her showed a lack of procedure, contained “poor, lacking or perhaps even irresponsible documentation” and was “ethically problematic.” Lonsway said he could not discuss the committee’s investigation of Westervelt’s case because they are conducted confidentially.

John Valentino, Westervelt’s lawyer, said the committee recommended that the design department give her a new contract that would contain a “fair period” for her review, among other things. Instead, he said the contract they gave her “set her up for failure.”

Shortly after she submitted the request, Westervelt received a notice from VPA Dean Ann Clarke that she was fired. Valentino said the department never responded to the committee’s recommendations.

Westervelt argues in the lawsuit against SU that her firing, motivated by gender-based and disability discrimination, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Human Rights Law.

SU has denied all wrongdoing and added that many of the allegations were only made recently, said SU’s senior vice president for public affairs Kevin Quinn. He added that the university  has “very strong” non-discrimination policies dealing with disability and gender.

“We are confident that legal proceedings will demonstrate the allegations are inaccurate and that Professor Westervelt was treated fairly,” Quinn said in an email.

Westervelt also submitted a claim in August with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that enforces employment discrimination laws. The EEOC didn’t find SU in violation, but it also didn’t certify the university was in compliance, according to the document.

The case is currently in the mediation phase.

Published on December 1, 2015 at 11:08 pm

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu