District Court Rejects White Male Law Prof's Gender Bias Suit Against University Of Denver

Bloomberg Law, Sturm Law School Trial Advocacy Director Loses His Title IX Suit:

The University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law won dismissal of Title IX sex discrimination and retaliation claims by the director of its highly rated Center for Advocacy.

The ruling Thursday by the US District Court for the District of Colorado [Schott v. University of Denver, No. 21-cv-01645 (D. Colo. Jan. 4, 2024)] turned on a lack of evidence that the plaintiff, who is also a full professor at the school, experienced an adverse employment action as a result of the alleged gender-based bias or his bias complaints.

The court applied the “materially adverse” standard the US Supreme Court adopted for analyzing retaliation claims under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

David Schott failed to meet that test on any of his sex discrimination or retaliation claims, because his employment hasn’t significantly changed, Judge Christine M. Arguello said. He still works at the school, holds the same job titles, his salary hasn’t been reduced, and he has continued to receive merit-based pay raises, the judge said.

According to Schott, the university discriminated against him with regard to its handling of informal complaints by female students of gender bias in the Center for Advocacy, which he has headed for 15 years and which has risen to the rank of sixth-best nationally. Those allegations were false and the mishandling of them resulted in him twice being denied long-term contract renewals, Schott said.

The bias also included the then associate dean of academic affairs, co-defendant Viva Moffat, telling him that she didn’t want to see White men continuing to teach in the Center for Advocacy and that he should only hire minority women, preferably Black women, Schott said. That caused him to reduce his own work load, he said. ...

According to Schott, the long-term renewal denials have effectively made him an at-will employee, and the lost peace of mind and job security that would have come with a long-term renewal 

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• White Male Prof Sues Denver Law School For Gender Bias (June 18, 2021)