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Press Release Columbia University Professor Delivers Remarks to Support San Diego Plaintiff Following Appeal HearingSan Diego, CA. Graciela Chichilnisky, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Professor of Mathematics and Economics at Columbia University, will deliver remarks following the appeal hearing for Washington vs. the California State University Board of Trustees, on March 16, 2006. Chichilnisky said that she hopes her support will help draw greater public attention to the ways Washington and other faculty members around the country have been victims of academic discrimination based upon gender, race, national origin, and sexual orientation. Dr. Pat Washington is an internationally known and widely acclaimed scholar fired by San Diego State University (SDSU) in 2002. Although an award-winning professor, and Teacher of the Year for three consecutive years, SDSU claims she did not meet the requirements for tenure. She filed a lawsuit in 2003, asserting that her termination was retaliation for her complaint about a racially hostile work environment and illegal because it was discriminatory. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found "reasonable cause" to believe that SDSU discriminated and retaliated against Dr. Washington and recommended that the University reinstate her with tenure, promotion, and back pay. However, San Diego County Superior Court Judge Jay Bloom granted CSU summary judgment against Washington, indicating that though her Women’s Studies colleagues “didn’t like her,” that was not actionable in a court of law. Washington is now appealing Bloom’s decision. The appellate court will hear oral arguments in the case of Washington vs. CSU Board of Trustees on March 16, 2006 at 9.am. Washington is represented by Attorney Dan Siegel of Siegel and Yee, in Oakland, CA. Siegel specializes in cases involving the rights of university and college faculty members and has won recent cases against Stanford University, Brown University, Arizona State University, and the University of California. Chichilnisky urges other women academics, allies and minority community leaders to stand in solidarity with Washington at this event. For Chichilnisky, this is an appeal for “ a stronger public response to the rampant discrimination that women faculty, particularly women of color, experience through abuses in the retention and promotion practices of universities and colleges around the United States.” Speaking of the damage to Dr. Washington’s professional career and personal health this protracted lawsuit is causing, Chichilnisky noted that Washington’s experiences are all too familiar. Chichilnisky knows first-hand that high caliber female professors routinely experience costly and debilitating discrimination within academia. Professor Chichilnisky is director of Columbia’s Program on Information and Resources and director of its Center for Risk Management. She has helped set economic and environmental policy for the World Bank, the UN and NGOs around the world. Professor Chichilnisky holds the UNESCO chair, and has many published books and articles. In 1991 Chichilnisky filed a lawsuit against Columbia on the basis of “egregious gender discrimination” and in 1995 received a significant settlement from Columbia University in that case. The scheduled press conference will take place immediately following oral arguments in Washington vs. CSU Board of Trustees, scheduled at the Court of Appeal, 750 B Street, Suite 500, San Diego, on March 19 at 9 a.m.
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