Haldar v. Univ. of Notre Dame Du Lac

1

KASTURI HALDAR, Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME DU LAC, et al., Defendants.

No. 3:24-CV-836-CCB-SJF

United States District Court, N.D. Indiana, South Bend Division

November 5, 2024

OPINION AND ORDER

CRISTAL C. BRISCO, JUDGE

Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Kasturi Haldar's (“Dr. Haldar's”) Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction. [DE 4]. Following expedited briefing, the court heard oral argument on October 28, 2024. [DE 24]. Based on the applicable law facts, and arguments, Plaintiff's motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction will be denied.

I. Relevant Background

The facts as presented here are taken from Dr. Haldar's Verified Complaint [DE 1], her affidavit [DE 4-13] and supplemental affidavit [DE 22-1], Defendant Santiago Schnell's affidavit [DE 18-3], other affidavits and exhibits attached to the Verified Complaint, and the briefing of the pending Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction.

Dr Haldar, a citizen of Illinois, is a 67-year-old Asian woman of Indian national origin and a tenured professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, at Defendant University of Notre Dame. [DE 1 at 3, 4]. Dr. Haldar began her service at Notre Dame in August 2008 after holding tenured positions at Stanford University and Northwestern University. [Id. at 4]. Dr. Haldar's hiring at Notre Dame is memorialized in an Offer Letter from the Dean of the College of Science dated March 20, 2008 [DE 1-1], and an Appointment Letter from the Provost dated April 8, 2008 [DE 1-2]. The Appointment Letter included the amount of Dr. Haldar's nine-month base salary, appointed her to an endowed professorship, and incorporated by reference the University's Academic Articles, which together with the Appointment Letter constitutes Dr. Haldar's Faculty Contract. [Id.]. Dr. Haldar was also named Director of the University's new Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases (“CRND”)^[1], an administrative position for which she received a summer stipend depending upon the availability of funding. [DE 1-1, 1-2, 18-3 at 7]. In a reappointment letter dated July 29, 2014, Dr. Haldar was renewed as Director of the CRND from July 1, 2014, and through June 30, 2017, stating that she would be “serving at the pleasure of the Dean of the College of Science.” [DE 1-4 at 2]. No subsequent reappointment letter was ever issued, but Dr. Haldar continued to serve as the CRND Director after 2017.

Dr. Haldar's work at the University and in the CRND has included running a laboratory where she conducts research regarding Non-Ketotic Hyperglycinemia (“NKH”), Kabuki Syndrome, and malaria. [DE 22-1 at 3]. Dr. Haldar's malaria research is a continuation of work she started before coming to the University and was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (”NIH”) until 2021. [Id. at 6]. After 2021, Dr. Haldar used the discretionary fund associated with her endowed professorship to support her malaria work while applying for new federal funding. [Id. at 8]. According to Dr. Haldar, research into NKH and Kabuki is rarely, if ever, supported by NIH grants; therefore, she solicited donations for this research and maintained relationships with the donors, who were typically families of patients suffering from these diseases. [Id. at 3].

For her research into NKH and Kabuki, Dr. Haldar and her staff bred and genetically engineered two separate mice colonies. [DE 4-13 at 6]. Getting the NKH mice ready for experimentation took about 4 years while it took about 12-26 months to get the Kabuki mice ready for experimentation. [See id.]. Experiments have produced promising results leading to publications and two patents. [Id. at 4; DE 22-1 at 9, 11]. Similarly, development of the reagents central to Dr. Haldar's research on drug resistant malaria parasites took about 5-7 years. [See DE 4-13 at 7]. The resulting research has contributed to efforts to eliminate malaria in Bangladesh by 2030. [Id. at 8]. Dr. Haldar's work regarding malaria in Bangladesh has been highlighted in the press and scientific publications and has been lauded in affidavits by two non-party scientists. [DE 4-14; DE 4-15; DE 22-3].

Several faculty, research assistants, undergraduate students, and graduate students have been part of Dr. Haldar's lab. Dr. Haldar has come to rely upon one Ph.D. student in particular, Alejandro Lopez Ramirez, who has perfected the brain surgery on the mice necessary for the lab's experiments. [DE 22-1 at 16]. To keep the research going, Dr. Haldar will need to hire and train Mr. Lopez's replacement when he completes his Ph.D., which is expected in 2025. [Id. at 16-17].

On September 1, 2021, while Dr. Haldar was still serving as Director of the CRND, Defendant Santiago Schnell was appointed Dean of the College of Science. [DE 18-3 at 2]. Later that month, Dean Schnell met with Dr. Haldar, as he did with the directors of all the College's Centers, to discuss succession planning. [Id. at 8]. The parties disagree about the exact language Dean Schnell used in the meeting, but Dr. Haldar confirmed the results of the meeting in an email to Dean Schnell on November 14, 2021, with the subject line “Transitionre Meeting Sept 29th”:

I've given considerable thought to your preferred option of recruiting at the Associate Professor level and then grooming the individual to transition as Director of CRND.

Taking all factors into account, I agree it is the best option and I'm glad to help move forward.

[DE 22-6 at 2].

After that Dean Schnell began receiving complaints from personnel in Dr. Haldar's lab about long working hours and inability to take vacations or time off. [DE 18-3 at 8]. One complaint came from a female, Asian, Indian national faculty member who reported that Dr. Haldar threatened to terminate her position if she traveled to India to attend her sister's wake. [Id.]. Dean Schnell and an Associate Dean met with Dr. Haldar on November 3, 2021, to discuss the complaints and explain the College's expectations for supervising lab personnel and maintaining clear policies. [Id.]. Dean Schnell documented the stated expectations in a letter to Dr. Haldar dated November 29, 2021. [DE 4-1]. Specifically, Dean Schnell directed her to (1) “establish written policies for working regular hours and vacations;” (2) “provide consistent mentoring . . . for all of your laboratory personnel;” (3) “treat your research team members with respect and compassion;” and (4) never engage in any form of retaliation to past, current, or future lab personnel for reporting their concerns. [Id.]. Dean Schnell warned Dr. Haldar that “failure to meet these expectations could impact [her] privileges to mentor students and postdoctoral scholars, hire research staff, or appoint research professors in [her] laboratory [and could subject her] to severe sanctions as outlined in Article IV/Section 9 of the Academic Articles.” [Id.].

A subsequent investigation of complaints from Dr. Haldar's lab was conducted by the University's Office of Institutional Equity (“OIE”) resulting in a report dated February 3, 2022. [DE 25-1]. The parties dispute whether Dean Schnell or the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs (“Associate Provost”) directed OIE to investigate Dr. Haldar's lab. [Compare DE 1 at 11, with DE 18-3 at 9]. Nevertheless, the OIE investigator interviewed eleven individuals who had either worked in the lab as far back as 2016 or were currently working for the lab. [DE 18-3 at 99]. Dr. Haldar was given the opportunity to be interviewed but refused choosing to respond to the interviewer only in writing. [DE 4-2 at 2]. The interviewees requested anonymity fearing retaliation from Dr. Haldar if she knew they were complaining about their experience in the lab. [DE 18-3 at 99]. The OIE investigator reported complaints by interviewees of a toxic work environment where Dr. Haldar yelled, humiliated, and insulted people in lab meetings; got angry at employee mistakes; and micromanaged employes causing them fear and even health problems. [Id. at 100-01]. The interviewees also noted long hours, inability to take time off, pressures to work weekends, and a lack of mentorship and training from Dr. Haldar. [Id. at 101-02]. Instances of manipulating employee vulnerabilities such as visa status as well as inappropriate comments regarding employee personal matters were also reported. [Id. at 103].

Based on this report, Dean Schnell concluded that Dr. Haldar violated the University's Respectful Environment Policy. [DE 18-3 at 10]. The Policy is maintained on the University's website, is applicable to faculty and staff, and provides:

The University of Notre Dame is committed to its core values of accountability, teamwork, integrity, leadership in excellence, and leadership in mission. As such, Notre Dame staff and faculty members are expected to treat members of the University community with dignity and respect, recognizing that diversity of thought and informed debate are valued in an academic setting.

[DE 18-3 at 85]. The Policy includes a section describing how the Policy is enforced as follows:

The University will not tolerate demeaning, intimidating, humiliating, or hostile behavior that would negatively impact a reasonable person's ability to learn or work in the University environment, and that has such an impact on a Notre Dame community member. Such behaviors have no place in the academic community. Staff and faculty members who engage in such unacceptable behavior may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination, consistent with Notre Dame disciplinary policy and procedures.

[Id.].

On May 10, 2022, Dean Schnell sent a letter to Dr. Haldar outlining her response to his ...