Bagley v. Yale Univ.

42 F.Supp.3d 332

Constance E. BAGLEY, Plaintiff

v.YALE UNIVERSITY, Douglas Rae, Edwayd Snyder, and Andrew Metrick, Individually, Defendants.

No. 3:13–cv–1890 CSH.

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

Signed Aug. 26, 2014.

Emily J. Nelson, Laura R. Studen, Burns & Levinson LLP, Boston, MA, Michael J. Rose, Rose Kallor, LLP, Hartford, CT, for Plaintiff.

Patrick M. Noonan, Donahue, Durham & Noonan, Guilford, CT, for Defendants.

RULING ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS THE COMPLAINT

HAIGHT, Senior District Judge:

This is an action alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (“Title VII”), and of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. (“ADEA”). Supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1367 is asserted with respect to appended Connecticut statutory and common law claims. The case is before the Court on the motion of the Defendants to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint.

I. INTRODUCTION

The Plaintiff is Constance E. Bagley. She is a professor on the faculty of the Yale School of Management (“Yale SOM” or “SOM”). In 2008 Professor Bagley and Yale SOM entered into a five-year contract of employment, commencing on July 1, 2008. Bagley brings this action to complain of Yale SOM's decision not to rehire her for a further term. Her present term on the faculty, extended by circumstances, expires on December 31, 2014.

The Defendants are Yale University (“Yale”), a private degree granting institution in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale SOM is the graduate business school of Yale, which is legally responsible for SOM's conduct. Defendant Andrew Rae is a professor on the SOM faculty. Defendant Edward Snyder is a professor on the SOM faculty and the Dean of the School. Defendant Andrew Metrick is a professor on the SOM faculty and the Deputy Dean of the school.

All Defendants move [Doc. 28] to dismiss all the claims contained in Plaintiff's complaint. Plaintiff opposes that motion. The motion was extensively briefed. The Court heard oral argument on June 25, 2014, and directed supplemental briefing in respect of one issue. That briefing has been submitted. Defendants' motion to dismiss is ripe for decision. This Ruling decides it.

II. BACKGROUND

A number of the background facts giving rise to Professor Bagley's complaint would seem to be undisputed or indisputable. But that is not true, I note at the outset, with respect to a threshold factual issue which gave rise to the Court's direction to counsel for further briefing. That issue is presented by Defendants' contention that “Plaintiff's first CHRO complaint, filed on March 4, 2013, was not timely filed,” to which Plaintiff responded that “the filing was timely, and the CHRO itself was incorrect in concluding otherwise.” Order for Further Briefing [Doc. 44] at 1.

“CHRO” is a reference to the State of Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, with which Bagley filed two complaints: the first on March 4, 2013, and the second on December 20, 2013. The timeliness of Bagley's second charge is not disputed, but Defendants contest the timeliness of the first charge. The resolution of that issue, and the resulting consequences, are considered in Part III.A. infra.

Reverting to the factual background of the case, much of what follows in this Part is drawn principally from a careful reading of the allegations in the “Background Facts” section of Professor Bagley's Complaint [Doc. 1], which comprises pages 4–27 and ¶¶ 15–122. Care is required because these paragraphs are replete with conclusory and argumentative assertions. This part of the Complaint is vividly written, in the best “That's telling 'em!” tradition, part pleading, part polemic. At the pleading stage of a case, district judges have received recent cogent instructions about how they are to read such prose. “In addressing the sufficiency of a complaint we accept as true all factual allegations and draw from them all reasonable inferences; but we are not required to credit conclusory allegations or legal conclusions couched as factual allegations.” Rothstein v. UBS AG, 708 F.3d 82, 94 (2d Cir.2013) (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ). Applying those principles to the complaint at bar, I distill from the cited paragraphs the following facts that presumably are not or could not be disputed.¹

The relevant facts begin in the year 2007, when Joel Podolny, then Dean of the Yale SOM, invited Constance Bagley to join the Yale SOM faculty. Bagley accepted, and signed an employment contract with Yale SOM as a Professor in the Practice of Law and Management for a five-year term, commencing on July 1, 2008 and ending on July 1, 2013. At the time of that appointment, Bagley was an associate professor at the Harvard Business School. She moved with her son from Massachusetts to New Haven, taking up residence in Woodbridge, Connecticut, and began teaching at Yale SOM.

In 2011, the question arose as to Professor Bagley's reappointment to the Yale SOM faculty. On October 19, 2011, Dean Metrick advised Bagley that a committee chaired by Professor Paul Bracken would review her accomplishments and prepare a report on her case, which would then be voted on by the Yale SOM senior faculty.

The Bracken Committee unanimously recommended that Bagley be reappointed to the faculty. On May 7, 2012, the Bracken Committee's recommendation was submitted for approval to Yale SOM's Board of Permanent Officers (“BPO”), which consists of Yale SOM tenured faculty. The BPO met on that date, and during the meeting voted against Bagley's renewed appointment to an additional five-year term as a Professor in the Practice on the Yale SOM faculty.²

On May 24, 2012, Dean Snyder advised Professor Bagley by letter that the BPO had voted against her renewed appointment. While the BPO's vote was advisory and not binding on Dean Snyder, Snyder advised Bagley that he had decided not to renew Bagley's contract for another five years. The reason Snyder gave Bagley for the non-renewal of her contract was, in words or substance, that “there were no courses for her to teach.”

Bagley responded on June 19, 2012 by filing an internal complaint of discrimination with Yale. Acting pursuant to the Yale University Faculty Handbook, Bagley requested a “provostial review” of Dean Snyder's decision not to review her contract. That complaint was addressed to, and came to the attention of, Professor Peter Salovey, then the Provost of the University (Salovey was subsequently elected President of Yale, taking office on July 1, 2013). Bagley's Complaint stated in part: “The real reason for the nonrenewal of my appointment is gender bias, including sexual stereotyping, in violation of Yale's policies, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and applicable Connecticut state law.” Doc. 1, ¶ 72. In October 2012, Bagley amended her internal complaint to add a claim of age discrimination.

Provost Salovey responded to Professor Bagley's internal complaint by appointing a committee designated “the Harte Committee” (named after the SOM professor who chaired it) to investigate and draft a report concerning the Yale SOM decision not to reappoint Bagley. The Harte Committee produced a report dated November 28, 2012 and a revised report dated March 3, 2013 (the “Revised Harte Report”). The Revised Harte Report stated that Bagley's possible reappointment had been adversely impacted by a “curricular decision about the future of the course.” The report also concluded that the events leading up to Yale SOM's decision not to reappoint Bagley demonstrated variations in SOM's announced procedures adverse to Bagley.

On April 4, 2013, Salovey sent Bagley a letter stating his conclusion, based on the Revised Harte Report and input from SOM Deans Snyder and Metrick, that the standards used to review her reappointment were not made sufficiently clear to her, and issues regarding her teaching required further review. Salovey ordered the SOM BPO to review Bagley's case “anew,” after a Yale SOM faculty review committee articulated the standards for reappointment of a Professor in the Practice at the School, and explained how they applied in Bagley's case.

In June 2013, Deputy Dean Metrick advised Bagley that, in accordance with Salovey's April 4, 2013 decision, a review committee drawn from the Yale SOM faculty would review Bagley's reappointment decision and articulate the standards that should apply when reviewing Professors in the Practice. That three-member committee was chaired by Edieal J. Pinker, a Yale SOM professor. That additional internal process availed Bagley nothing. The Pinker Committee submitted a report to the BPO. On October 21, 2013, the BPO again voted against renewal of Professor Bagley's contract. On that day Deputy Dean Metrick advised Bagley of the negative vote. Dean Snyder, in a letter on November 7, 2013, informed Bagley that he had decided to follow the BPO's recommendation not to renew her appointment.

Professor Bagley's five-year contract with Yale SOM, extended by these lengthy but ultimately unsuccessful review processes, expires on December 31, 2014.

On March 4, 2013, Bagley filed a complaint with the CHRO. Ex. A to Defendants' Brief [Doc. 29]. Yale University was the only named respondent. The complaint form included a line reciting: “discriminated against in terms and conditions of employment on or about ______.” Bagley filled in the date of May 7, 2012. The selection of that date was explained by Bagley's accompanying affidavit, which recited that Dean Snyder “advised me on May 7, 2012” that the “BPO ... had voted against my renewed appointment to an additional 5–year term” as a Yale SOM professor. Doc. 29 at 41 (¶ 8) (parentheses omitted). Required by the form to indicate the manners in which she had been discriminated against, Bagley inserted the phrases “not...