The case of tenure and promotion: an examination of Title VII and minoritized faculty representation

ABSTRACT

This quantitative study examines all discrimination lawsuits filed against institutions of higher education by faculty in the United States involving tenure and promotion throughout 1977–2022. Using institutional faculty gender and race data, we examine the association between Title VII tenure and promotion lawsuits and representation of minoritized faculty in academia. We find an association between institutions involved with a discrimination lawsuit and greater disparities for women and intersectional minoritized faculty. The results underscore that while gender remains an important variable for understanding the minoritized experiences of faculty in higher education, the perception of fairness is further skewed for individuals with an intersection of gender and race to their person. This study contributes to research examining tenure and promotion denial lawsuits to better understand the barriers of career progression for minoritized faculty in academia.

KEYWORDS:

• Tenure and promotion
• discrimination
• Title VII
• gender
• race

Acknowledgement

The comments from the April 2021 Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice in Accounting Education workshop were invaluable in moving this paper forward.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 From Chu v. Mississippi State University (2014) an employment discrimination lawsuit following a tenure and promotion denials requires the plaintiff to show (among other criteria) evidence that implies discrimination that may include ‘departures from university procedures, conventional evidence of bias against the plaintiff, and evidence that the plaintiff is found to be qualified for tenure by … the department faculty, references or other scholars in the particular field’ (7).

2 Title VII is enforced by the United States Eual Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) of the US Department of Justice, with violations resulting in compensatory and punitive damages paid to the victim with the goal of the law to ‘put the victim of discrimination in the same position (or nearly the same) that he or she would have been if the discrimination had never occurred’ (EEOC 2024). In addition to monetary sanctions, the employer will be required to stop any discriminatory practices and take steps to prevent discrimination in the future. The amounts of compensatory and punitive damages a person can recover are limited depending on the size of the employer. The limit for employers with more than 500 employees is $300,000 as of 2024 (EEOC 2024).