An assistant professor of art history has filed a $2 million suit against Vanderbilt University, claiming she was denied tenure as a result of the school’s unequal treatment of female “spousal hires,” who are offered a job as part of an employment deal extended to their partners.
Mireille Lee filed suit in Davidson County Chancery Court on Friday alleging the university engaged in unlawful gender discrimination against her in the denial of tenure in both 2015 and 2019, then retaliated her when she complained. Lee joined the faculty in 2008 as a spousal hire when Vanderbilt also offered a job to her husband, Joe Rife, an assistant professor of classics and anthropology.
The legal filing claims that 80% of spousal hires who are male have been granted a promotion or tenure at Vanderbilt, while fewer than 17% of female spousal hires have gotten the same opportunity.
The heavily redacted filing does not cite the source of the data, but — in a motion immediately filed to seal portions of the lawsuit — attorneys for Vanderbilt University note rulings in a separate and ongoing federal court involving Lee have imposed confidentiality requirements. In that case, a federal judge has “held multiple times that Vanderbilt has a substantial interest in keeping its confidential information under seal to protect the confidentiality of its tenure review process.”
Mireille Lee’s suit against Vanderbilt alleges “false representations” were made against her in the process of her seeking a...
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