Stanford Loses Gender Equity Case
Bay Area Guild Calendar
October, 2000
By Anne Rawley Saldich
Guild members Anne Weills and Dan Siegel recently won a federal trial against Stanford for retaliation against senior research scientist Dr. Colleen Crangle because she made complaints about gender bias. The $545,000 jury verdict was the first ever victory in a civil suit against Stanford. Crangle was fired from her position as a senior research scientist and consultant when she challenged the discriminatory and unprofessional treatment she received from three men at Stanford: a Medical School dean, the head of the medical informatics unit where she worked, and a colleague who was her peer.
Crangle is also among several women who filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor, claiming that the university frequently violates equal opportunity laws, which are supposed to be observed whenever federal funds are received. Their complaint is supported by statistics in a 1998 report generated by the Caucus of Women Faculty and Researchers: although Stanford receives millions of federal dollars each year, the university ranks near the bottom for faculty gender equity; 19 out of 21, when compared with similar universities.
The report provides statistics which show that, as women become increasingly successful at Stanford, their opportunities decrease: fifty percent of the undergraduates and 35 percent of the graduate students are women, but under 20 percent of the tenured faculty are women, despite a steadily growing pool of available professional women. Thus, Crangle's experience of gender bias and retaliation at Stanford is but one example.
In 1996, a Medical School dean wrote a supporting letter saying that he expected Crangle to take a leadership role in the medical informatics unit when she was hired. She did, and brought resource and recognition to the group. Increasingly, we was sought after to give presentations at national and international conferences. Previously, she co-authored a book with Patrick Suppe, an eminent Stanford scholar, and wrote a score of professional articles. Crangle brought in federal money, and with it came prestige.
Yet, a year later, that same dean joined his male colleagues to undermine her success. For instance, instead of rewarding Crangle for obtaining a research grant on her own and helping to bring in another, or for increasing medical informatics' prestige through her achievements and professional recognition, her male colleagues marginalized and isolated her.
She was told she could no longer work with other scholars, even though the essence of medical informatics research is interdisciplinary, based on shared knowledge. She was told that funding for her research had run out (which she disproved in court). The same dean told Crangle to be more sensitive to her peer's feelings. She had already been admonished by her male colleague for having "strong opinions." Crangle was told to include his name in her grant applications so that he would receive part of her research funds, although the arrangement would not be reciprocal.
When Cangle asked why she should do this, since she and her colleague were equals, the dean drew a new organization chart that instantly elevated her peer to a higher status, as if he were her superior. In sum, her new role was to be a traditional woman who subordinates her career to nurture a man's ego and assist him with his work; she claimed "a girl Friday."
When Crangle could not be intimidated into compliance, she was assigned to a programming position, for which she had no training and which was, effectively, a demotion. Then she was offered a position that would have had no office, phone or computer of her own. After seeking redress, to no avail, through Human Resources, Crangle sent an e-mail to the dean of the Medical School, telling him that she wanted to be treated equally, otherwise she would take legal action. Within 24 hours, she was fired.
The men at the Medical School used the same tactics with Crangle that are used by bigots to demean and suppress blacks and other minorities. In fact, Crangle first experienced discrimination as a South African. In one of her first jobs after graduate school, Crangle saw her black colleague fired legally because the law was written to deny blacks the labor protections whites were entitled to.
Crangle explained why she sued rather than settle: "I must bear witness. Stanford is a place where women encounter blatant and subtle inequities. It they take issue with them, they face swift and brutal retaliation, so that most women are terrified into silence."
The jury reached a unanimous verdict in only six hours, granting Crangle the maximum permissible award for compensatory and punitive damages. Both parties have filed notice of appeal. For more information, go to www.gender-equity.org
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