The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 8, 1991 Page: 6 of 16
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8 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1991 THE RICE THRESHER
Chance appeals discrimination decision
by Kraettli Epperson
English professor Jane Chance
filed a notice of appeal October 23 in
the sex discrimination suit Jane
Chance v. Rice University and Alan
Grob, indicating her intention to take
the case to its next stage of legal
contention. Chance filed the notice
pro se, meaning that she is currently
representing herself. The notice did
not make reference to her past coun-
sel, David Lopez.
English professor Alan Grob
commented on the filing. "This is
obviously going to be a long drawn
out thing. It seemed basically over.
[The appeal] should be shorter than
the case was. I'm told [by Rice attor-
neys] that from the time of filling out
the appeal, it could take anywhere
from six months to a year.
"I'm not an attorney, but the
chances are very small of her getting
the judgement overturned. The case
that went to court [previously] was
such a weak one." he stated.
Robin Curtis and L Chapman
Smith of Baker & Botts and Shirley
Kedwine, general counsel, will rep-
resent Rice University.
Curtis, who was willing to com-
ment only brielfy, said "We are pre-
pared to vigorously defend an ap-
peal. The University has said that
they would defend this case as long
as it took to vindicate their position,
including an appeal."
Chance's document, filed one day
before the appeal deadline on Octo-
ber 24, will move the case out of the
Federal District Court, where
Chance's motion for a new trial or
amendment to findings of fact was
denied on September 24 by Judge
Melinda Harmon. The appeal will next
be considered by the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals which hears all ap-
peals from the District Court
The filing read:"Notice is hereby
given that Dr. Jane Chance, plaintiff,
hereby appeals to the United States
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
from the final judgement entered in
this action on July 12, 1991, and all
subsequent orders of this Court"
The case is presently still in the
jurisdiction of the Federal District
Court, but it will be sent to the Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals once the
District Court receives the completed
transcipts for the case. The Fifth Cir-
cuit Court will send transcipts to both
parties to allow each to prepare an
Appeals Brief. When the Fifth Cir-
cuit Court receives the briefs, it will
then decide, based upon the briefs,
whether to hold hearings.
The Appeals Court consists of
three judges who review the findings
of the previous court and the briefs of
the parties. The panel has the option
to reverse the decision of the trial
court and find in favor of the appellant,
to uphold the judgment of the lower
court, the most common decision, or
to find that mistakes were made by
the trial court and send it back to the
original court for retrial Chance may
move to withdraw the appeal at any
time. If the appeals court decides to
uphold the previous decision, the
case may be appealed to the U.S.
Supreme Court
Chance originally filed the suit in
April 1988 against Rice for sex dis-
crimination in pay, terms and condi-
tions of employment. She also
charged that Alan Grob, then chair of
the English department, had carried
out a campaign harassing Chance
because of her opposition to alleged
discriminatory practices in the de-
partment Harmon decided in favor
of Rice on July 12,1991.
Shirley Redwine, Rice general
counsel, was unavailable for com
ment Chance refused to comment
upon the substance of the intended
appeal or upon whether she has
changed attorneys. The President's
office did not return phone calls re-
questing a statement
Philosophy professor Helen Longino speaks at the sexual harassment forum.
Legal aspect of harassment discussed
British actor auditions
students for spring class
By Kristian Gamache
Geoffrey Church, member of the
Royal Shakepeare Company of Lon-
don is visiting Rice to audition stu-
dents for roles in The Tempest and for
a class, Theater 432, which he will
teach next semester. Church will live
on campus at Baker College as a
resident associate and will be di-
recting Baker's traditional spring
Shakespearian play.
Dave Bixby, Baker theater rep-
resentative, said, "We just ap-
proached the cabinet with our idea,
and they were very supportive. Ev-
eryone has been very helpful."
Bixby and Baker sophomore
Craig Comstock first had the idea to
bring Church to Rice. Professor
Dennis Huston of the English de-
partment contacted Church.
"It was almost fate in a way," said
Comstock, "Only a few days before
vve called, Church had decided that
he wanted to direct and teach for a
living. When we called, it was exactly
what he was looking for."
In addition to membership in the
Shakespeare Company, Church has
been in several theater productions:
such as The Beaux Strategem and A
Jovial Crew, in which he played the
lead role.
H e has also done some work with
the British Broadcasting Company,
appearing in series such as Capitol
'Only a few days before
we called, Church had
decided that he wanted
to direct and teach for a
living. When tve called,
it was exactly what.he
was looking for.'
—Craig Comstock
City, Inspector Moore and Sam's Sat-
urday.
According to Comstock, Church
n'leans to make The Tempest a big
production. He hopes to attract "a lot
of off campus attention." Since The
Tempest does not have many female
parts, he also plans to create some
female parts from previously male
roles.
He also wants some musical talent,
since there will be musical pieces
incorporated into the play.
The Theater 432 class will be en-
tirely separate from the play. Audi-
tions will be held at the same place
and time as The Tempest auditions.
Church plans to cover lots of areas of
acting, and the class will hold about
12 people.
Both auditions will take place
November 9 and 10 and 1:30 p.m. in
the Jones Business School.
WhileChurch paidforhis fall visit,
the Baker cabinet, the Baker mas-
ters, Dennis Huston, Vice President
for Student Affairs Ronald Stebbings,
and Neil Havens, director of Rice
Players are funding his spring trip.
Baker and the Rice Players will pro-
vide funding for Church's stay.
by Eric Carmichael
The Affirmative Action Office
[AAO] held a symposium on sexual
harassment November 6 for ap>-
proximatelyl40 p>eople, primarily
members of the faculty and staff.
According to Deborah Nelson, co-
chair of AAO, the forum was de-
signed to educate the Rice commu-
nity about issues of sexual harass-
ment and the legal ramifications in-
volved.
Paula Cox, co-director of the AAO,
opened the symposium with some
brief remarks, and then introduced
the speakers.
Vice President for Administration
at University of Texas-Austin Peggy
Kruger began by presenting a defi-
nition of sexual harassment. "The
complaint is in the eyes of the
beholder...if you can apply the 'rea-
sonable person' concept to this, then
sexual harassment took place."
Kruger then addressed the problems
involved in handling charges of
sexual harassment "You must be in
the position of protecting everyone's
rights, of not taking witch hunts.. .of
believing everyone and believing no
one." She concluded with anecdotes
selected to illustrate sexual harass-
ment.
Shirley Redwine, Rice University
General Counsel, sp>oke next and
discussed Rice's p>olicy on sexual ha-
rassment She said the p>olicy pro-
hibits two kinds of sexual harass-
ment—quid pro quo harassment,
where sexual harassment is made a
condition of employment, and a more
subtle form in which harassment
leads to an unhealthy work environ-
ment However, she acknowledged
that the p>olicy does not prohibit ev-
ery instance of sexual harassment.
"It must be pervasive. The isolated
'You must be in the
position of protecting
everyone's rights, of not
taking witch hunts...of
believing everyone and
believing no one."
—Peggy Kruger
incident is not what this policy is
intended to deal with." She said the
policy allows for many different types
of complaints, both informal and for-
mal, and detailed the procedures
appropriate to each typ>e.
Jim Sacher, regional attorney for
the Houston District Office of the
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission [EEOC] spoke last He
said the EEOC has jurisdiction over
complaints "where an employment
relationship is involved, and when 15
or more employees are involved." He
also said the EEOC distinguishes
between quid pro quo harass mentand
harassment which creates an op-
pressive environment. The EEOC is
more inclined to take action in the
first case. "If there's any instance of
touching that's unwelcome or offen-
sive and in some way tied to benefits,
that's actionable... [other types of ha-
rassment] might be more sensibly
investigated locally. We encourage
institutions to develop internal poli-
cies for these situations." He also
stressed that formal complaints must
be brought within 300 days of the last
alleged incident of harassment, or
the EEOC is unable to act
Cox then opened the floor to
statements from the four panel
members, President of the Student
Association Mitra Miller, President
of the Graduate Student Association
Dirk Valk, Assistant Dean of Social
Sciences Jackie Ehlers, and Profes-
sor of Electrical and Computer Engi-
neering Bill Wilson. The panel's chief
concern was that sexual harassment
received too little attention within
the Rice community. "Students just
aren't talking about it I hop>e faculty
and staff are. That would be a big
step," said Miller.
Ehlers echoed Miller's sentiment.
"What I would suggest... is that we
keep the dialogue going."
Nelson was unable to attend the
forum.
Profs recount personal experiences with harassment
by Shaila Dewan
In respxmse to the recent Senate
hearings involving Professor Anita
Hill's testimony against Supreme
Court nominee Clarence Thomas,
several women professors organized
a speakout on sexual harassment All
spoke about experiences such as rape
and physical and verbal harassment
both in and out of the academic
world—including Rice.
Professors expressed concern
because they felt people did not have
a clear understanding of the reasons
why Hill may not have taken action
against Thomas 10 years
ago. Professor of Philosophy Helen
Longino said she had heard many
p>eople say "they didn't give Hill much
credence because she didn't do any-
thing about [the sexual harassment]
at the time."
The professors also wanted to
discuss different ways ofdealingwith
sexual harassment on campus today.
The second half of the evening was
devoted to discussion of Rice's sexual
harassment policy and of various
ways of handling both formal and
informal complaints.
Longino said she and some of her
colleagues had sent a letter to all
women professors with tenure asking
them to speak about past experiences
when they were sexually harassed.
Tenured professors, she said, were
"much less vulnerable than
untenured women professors, than
staff or than students." She added
that women professors would be ap>
proximately the same age as Hill,
and would be able to relate similar
experiences which occurred at the
same time.
Anthropology professor Sharon
Traweek began the speakout by re-
lating how sexual harassment had
severely interrupted her acdemic ca-
reer not once, but twice. She left
undergraduate school at the age 19
after one of her peers rap>ed her.
In graduate school, her depart-
ment head offered her help in getting
grants and fellowships in exchange
for sex, Traweek said. He then
threatened her when she did not re-
spond. "I remember it in shocking
detail," she said, noting that Hill, too,
had recounted incidents involving
Thomas in great detail.
Traweek did not report the inci-
dent, after which she quit graduate
school for 15 years, she said.
Both Longino and sociology pro-
fessor Elizabeth Long told of similar
experiences in their academic ca-
reers. Often, they said, professors
who harass students are well-re-
spected, influential faculty members.
Long said a professor who served on
her doctoral committee had made
passes at her. "He was a teacher that
I admired very much," said Long.
"He wasn't, in fact, a predatory,
lecherous person," she said, ex-
plaining the professor seemed very
afraid of aging. "... The experience
hurt me more than it hurt him."
All the women spoke about how
difficult it was to talk about sexual
harassment in the '60s and '70s. For
many of them, the experiences re-
mained secret until the Thomas-Hill
hearings brought them to light "I
just sort of wrapped my experience
around myself," said Long.
Longino said she discovered just
recently that she had not even told
her best friend about one prolonged
instance of harassment she experi-
enced.
The women emphasized the high
risk of reporting sexual harassment
when they were graduate students.
Anthropology professor Susan
Mcintosh said when she was at
Cambridge on a fellowship, her su-
pervisor invited her to meet with him
in a bar and gave her a ride. Instead
of discussing Mayan civilization,
Mcintosh said, she watched her su-
pervisor get drunk. Later, she said,
he kissed her and made other ad-
vances toward her in his car.
Mcintosh recalled, "the sort of
lightning calculations that we do in
these situations. What is the risk as-
sessment here? How do we do dam-
age control on this one?"
She said she refused the man, but
he soon after moved to the States. He
now sits on major editorial boards
and fellowship committees to which
she submits proposals. "I had not
understood and think young students
do not understand how small the
working universe is."
Four women who agreed to speak,
including Dean of Students Sarah
Burnett and English Professor Helena
Michie, were not present for various
reasons, Traweek said after the
speakout
After some audience members
related their own experiences with
sexual harassment, conversation
turned to harassment at Rice itself.
"I don't think there's a very good
understanding of sexual politics at
Rice," said Longino, adding she felt
the climate here could be changed to
encourage harassment victims to take
action. She said that a victim might
be encouraged to report harassment
"if she had the university behind her."
Mcintosh cited figures from the
Rice Commission on Women which
said 12 percent of female graduate
students had suffered sexual harass-
ment
SEE SPCAKOUT, PAGE 8
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Zitterkopf, Ann & Howe, Harlan. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 8, 1991, newspaper, November 8, 1991; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245796/m1/6/: accessed March 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.