Background

Dr. Pat Washington was hired as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Women's Studies at San Diego State University in August, 1996. Dr. Washington was the only openly lesbian, black full-time women's studies faculty member hired in SDSU's history. She won SDSU's Outstanding Faculty Award three years in a row, and she published eight refereed or peer reviewed articles, when only two were required for tenure at the time she was hired. Dr. Washington was denied tenure and promotion after complaining of a racially hostile work environment Washington was terminated on May 21, 2003, despite the fact that her teaching and publication records were comparable to, and often stronger than, those of White faculty recently (and historically) granted tenure by the university. In fact, Washington's termination occurred less than a week after she was honored with her third consecutive "outstanding faculty" award at the College of Arts and Letters commencement.

Washington continues to garner the support of academic, feminist and civil rights/social justice organizations throughout the country. Significantly, the National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) is among those academic organizations supporting Dr. Washington. NWSA is the national professional association of women's studies scholars and administrators. In June of 2003, the Membership Assembly passed a recommendation that a letter be sent on behalf of the membership to SDSU President Stephen Weber and CSU Chancellor Charles Reed, expressing concerns about the process used to deny Washington tenure and supporting Washington's appeal of the tenure denial.

During the past two years, Washington has been supported by SDSU's student government (Associated Students), the Afrikan Student Union, MECha, the Women's Resource Center at San Diego State University, the San Diego Concilio for Higher Education, the San Diego Branch NAACP, Asian Pacific Island Community AIDS Project of San Diego, the Imperial Court de San Diego, the San Diego Chapter of the Peace and Freedom Party, the Pat Washington Support Committee, Supportive Parents Information Network (SPIN), the California Black Faculty Association, the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, California NAACP, California NOW, California Alliance for Pride and Equality, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Lambda Letters Project, the FOR Chicana/Chicano Studies Foundation, Sociologists for Women in Society, the Academic Discrimination Advisory Board of the National Women's Studies Association, the Women of Color Caucus of the National Women's Studies Association, the Anti-White Supremacy Task Force of the National Women's Studies Association, and WAGE (We Advocate Gender Equity). Washington has also received support from San Diego Councilwoman Toni Atkins, Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe and Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante. Washington's case has received coverage in San Diego''s LGBT publications——especially Lavender Lens, Gay & Lesbian Times, and Buzz as well as The Chronicle of Higher Education and the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

Shortly after she was denied tenure in 2002, Washington filed a charge of discrimination and retaliation with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). On September 23, 2003, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued findings against San Diego State University, stating there was "reasonable cause" to believe the university discriminated against assistant professor Pat Washington by denying her tenure and terminating
her "on the basis of her race/sex combined and in retaliation for previous complaints." The EEOC called upon SDSU to avoid costly litigation and undo the harm done to Dr. Washington by reinstating her to the faculty status she would have been granted, absent discrimination and retaliation.

On December 26, 2003, Dr. Washington received notice that SDSU had rejected EEOC's proffered remedies and had elected to go to court rather than make restitution. This means the university——which has already spent several hundred thousand dollars in taxpayer's money defending its unwarranted actions against Dr. Washington—— plans on diverting hundreds of thousands more for court costs and private attorneys' fees.