The AU professor who sued AU in 2013 for breach of contract and age discrimination after being denied tenure is moving forward with her case.
School of Communication professor Maria Ivancin first filed a lawsuit against the University in April 2013, after she was denied tenure in May 2012, the Eagle previously reported.
In September, Ivancin’s case was approved to take its next steps, according to one of her lawyers Matthew Radler. This includes deposing individuals involved in the case, many of whom are AU faculty.
AU filed a motion to dismiss Ivancin’s claim of age discrimination after Ivancin first sued, as it did not believe Ivancin had enough evidence to take her case to court.
In its original motion to dismiss the case, the University claimed that Ivancin’s age discrimination allegation did not have enough evidence. The University argued that the claim was based solely on the fact that Ivancin was 57-years-old when denied tenure, and that the Provost wanted AU’s professors to continue teaching with the University as they progressed in their careers.
“Plaintiff neither addresses nor distinguishes the ample authority distinguished by AU dismissing age discrimination claims based on such slim allegations,” the document reads.
In recent months however, Ivancin’s legal team has discovered additional information supporting the idea that age discrimination exists at AU, according to Radler. AU removed its motion to dismiss the claim after Ivancin and her lawyers submitted that additional information in an amended complaint against the University.
This could be because the University decided a dismissal was unlikely, Radler said.
“We are now seeing a growing pattern of evidence of taking age into hiring decisions at the University,” Radler said. “[Ivancin] was denied tenure because she entered academia in her 40s or 50s and she was treated much less favorably than a professor who entered in their 20s or 30s.”
The amended complaint details other instances where Provost Scott Bass allegedly discriminated against a professor or dean because of his or her age. The complaint specifically refers to an incident in 2013 during the hiring process for a new “Distinguished Professor” when Bass said that he did not want to hire an older applicant.
“We don’t want to bring in old people who are just going to sit around and do nothing,” Bass allegedly said, according to the complaint.
Another instance from the complaint states that Bass attempted to convince another dean to limit a tenure contract with a professor because of age. When the dean refused, Bass said that he had “done this before… you have no idea,” according to the complaint.
The University declined to comment on the case as it is an ongoing legal and personnel matter.
Although it has taken many months for her case to move forward, Ivancin’s resolve to fight against an unfair system remains the same, she said.
“You begin to think, what is causing this, and then that’s when I think you begin to see a pattern, who are the folks that are getting denied, [and] why, what is it about them that make them different?” Ivancin said.
While the lawsuit continues, Ivancin is teaching as an adjunct professor at AU within the School of Communication. The support she has received not only from the faculty in SOC but the University teaching community at large has been outstanding, she said.
“People who I don’t really even know really well have been encouraging,” Ivancin said. “There’s a little bit of a culture of fear here among faculty because they see things like this happen, and it doesn’t make sense, and that inspires fear.”
kmagill@theeagleonline.com
