Lynch v. Itt Technical Inst.

GRAHAM LYNCH, Plaintiff,

v.ITT TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, et al., Defendants.

CASE NO. 1:10-cv-2299

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO EASTERN DIVISION

DATED: June 29, 2012

JUDGE CHRISTOPHER A. BOYKO

OPINION AND ORDER

CHRISTOPHER A. BOYKO, J.:

____This matter comes before the Court upon the Motion (ECF DKT # 73) of Defendants, ITT Technical Institute and Antonio (Tony) Darosa, for Summary Judgment. For the following reasons, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is granted as to all claims.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

ITT is a private college system providing post-secondary degree programs in the United States. (Brouwer Decl. ¶ 3). ITT offers master, bachelor, associate and career-oriented education programs in various fields. Id.

Graham Lynch (Plaintiff) was hired by ITT as an adjunct professor on June 12, 2006. (Lynch Dep. at 137). Plaintiff is an African American and at the time of his hiring he was approximately sixty-seven years old. Id. at 15. Although he also taught business and math courses, Plaintiff was primarily hired to teach various courses in the field of information technology (IT). Id. at 141-143, 153.

Shortly before Plaintiff was hired, on June 1, 2006, ITT revised the job description thatapplied to instructors. (Lynch Dep. at 145-147). The job description sets forth in detail the duties and responsibilities of the position, as well as the specific qualifications and skills required of the person filling the position. Id. The job description sets forth the minimum academic degree requirements as follows:

1. Education

Bachelor's degree in a related area is required. Faculty teaching upper division or general education courses must have a minimum of a Master's degree or when applicable, an equivalent professional certification. A Professional certification or a Masters degree may also be required for program/subject matter expertise. Formal education degrees must be from an accredited institution recognized by the US Department of Education.

2. Qualitative and quantitative academic preparation

Must have a minimum of 15 semester hours in the subject area. The required level of academic preparation may be higher in some states.

Plaintiff holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Ohio University. (Lynch Dep. at 13-17). In 1976, Plaintiff obtained a Master's in Business Administration from Pepperdine University. Id. at 55. In addition, Plaintiff had years of experience working with computers, including training he received while working at IBM. Id. at 18.

ITT claims that it revised its job description to avoid jeopardizing its accreditation with the Accrediting Counsel of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). The ACICS is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education; and currently accredits approximately 880 colleges and schools across the country. (Gurubatham Dep. at 10, 27, 39). One of the things ACICS looks at when determining whether to accredit a particular college or school is whether the institution's faculty members satisfy certain minimum education requirements which are set by the ACICS. Id. at 120-121.

Section 3-4-302 of the ACICS Manual, which sets forth the academic qualification requirements for faculty teaching in academic associate's degree programs, states in relevant part as follows:

Instructors teaching general education shall hold a bachelor's degree at a minimum and shall be assigned based on their major and minor academic preparation. Instructors at a minimum shall have earned 15 semester hours or equivalent hours of course work through a combination of hours from associate's, bachelor's, and/or graduate level course work in the area of their teaching assignment.

Sections 3-3-302(a) and 3-3-302(c) of the ACICS manual also states:

(a) Instructors teaching courses other than general education shall have a bachelor's degree at a minimum and shall be assigned based on their major and minor academic preparation and/or related experience. However, exceptions to the bachelor's degree requirement may be justified for instructors who have demonstrable current exceptional professional level experience in the assigned field....Minors or related degrees could be considered, but will not be the sole determining factor...The institution must be able to justify the assignment of any instructor who does not hold a bachelor's degree in the assigned teaching field...

(c) Faculty members teaching courses not referenced above must demonstrate competency in the assigned teaching field [with e.g.] related work experience...The burden is on the institution to demonstrate and justify the qualifications of the faculty to teach their assigned courses.

Because IT courses are not considered by ACICS to be general education courses, the fifteen-semester-hours requirement set forth in the paragraph above technically would not apply to Plaintiff. (Gurubatham Dep. at 46-48). Henry Jones, the Chair of the IT Department, participated in Plaintiff's interview and testified that Plaintiff was fully qualified under the criteria of ITT in the area of IT. (Aff. of Henry Jones). Dean Ronald McClendon also testified that Plaintiff had the academic credentials as well as the real world experience, qualifying him to teach IT at ITT. (McClendon Dep. at 90). McClendon testified further that Plaintiff's performance in the classroom was strong. Id.

However, Dr. Gurubatham, a representative of ACICS, testified as a general rule, that the ACICS requires all faculty members to have at least a bachelor's degree in the field in which they are teaching. (Gurubatham Dep. at 83-84, 134-135). Dr. Gurubatham also testified that it is only in rare and exceptional cases that the ACICS would consider a faculty member to be qualified to teach courses in a particular field even though he or she does not have at least a bachelor's degree in that field. Id.

In August 2007, Ann Contiguglia was hired as the new "School Director," which is the top position on campus. (Contiguglia Dep. at 26). Plaintiff presents evidence that Contiguglia undervalued black male faculty and certainly treated them differently. (McClendon Dep. at 100-101). Plaintiff contends that one day Contiguglia came to McClendon and told him that she had heard a student complain that Plaintiff had made "race" remarks in class. Id. McClendon testified that he also received an email from ITT's Human Resource (HR) Department about a student complaint, directed at Plaintiff, received via the complaint hotline number. Id. at 23. However, McClendon investigated and found no evidence that racial comments had been made. Id. at 22-25, 103-104. He testified further that Contiguglia was still not satisfied and said to McClendon about Plaintiff: "He's got to go." Id. at 23-24, 27, 29-30.

In October 2008, Ronald Lewellen replaced McClendon as dean under Contiguglia. Contiguglia made it clear to Lewellen, as she had to McClendon, that she wanted Plaintiff fired. (Lewellen Dep. at 17). Lewellen testified that he suspected her motive was more personal than professional, and in particular was convinced that discrimination on account of Plaintiff's age lay behind Contiguglia's animosity. Id. at 19, 50, 58-59. However, Contiguglia was not the final decision maker in Plaintiff's termination. (Contiguglia Dep. at 59). Contiguglia reported toDistrict Manager, Tony Darosa, and she herself was fired on November 18, 2008, before Plaintiff's termination. Id.

From September 2005 through June 2009, District Manager, Tony Darosa was responsible for evaluating whether instructors at the campuses he oversaw met the qualification requirements set by ITT and the ACICS to teach the specific courses they were scheduled to teach. (Darosa Dep. at 31-32). During one of Darosa's visits to the Warrensville Heights campus, Lewellen and Contiguglia brought to his attention that Plaintiff may not have met the academic qualification requirements for the IT courses he was scheduled to teach. Id. at 46. Darosa testified that it is standard procedure for the School Director to be the one to bring him this information. Id. at 47. Darosa, in concert with Lewellen and Contiguglia, reviewed Plaintiff's resume and academic transcripts; and all three determined Plaintiff failed to meet the academic requirements set forth by ITT to be an IT instructor. Id. at 53. Darosa then met with Plaintiff to talk to him about his academic background and to see if Plaintiff had any education or course work that was not reflected on his resume. Id. at 56, 59-63.

Following the conversation, Darosa contacted the office of Dr. Gary Carlson. (Darosa Dep. at 58). Dr. Carlson was the Vice President of Academic Affairs at ITT and is currently Chair of ACICS. (Carlson Dep. at 9, 25). Dr. Carlson's office was at ITT's national headquarters in Carmel, Indiana. Id. at 16. Dr. Carlson was in charge of reviewing transcripts if there were any questions about whether an applicant met the academic requirements in the job description. Id. at 17. Dr. Carlson testified that ITT first looks at an instructor's academic qualifications and only tries to justify a hiring based on experience if there is no one in the community with the academic credentials to teach in the field. Id. at 43. Dr. Carlson reviewedPlaintiff's qualifications and confirmed that Plaintiff did not satisfy the requirements of the job description to teach IT courses at ITT. (Carlson Dep. at 35, 38, 50, 52; Darosa Dep. at 74). Darosa then contacted ITT's HR Department to advise him of the next step in the process. (Darosa Dep. at 78-79). HR then did the final review of Plaintiff's credentials and also found that he did not meet the requirements set forth in the job description. Id. at 79. HR advised Darosa to look for other positions, for which Plaintiff was qualified, that they could "slide" Plaintiff into. Id. Darosa conducted a search of local ITT campuses for openings, for which Plaintiff was qualified, but found none. Id. at 82.

ITT terminated Plaintiff's employment...