Dive Brief:
- Saint Louis University has been ordered to pay a former faculty member $367,000 in damages resulting from a denial of tenure and promotion to a female faculty member, the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
- Former assistant professor Cornelia Horn accused the university of gender discrimination, and said that female faculty members were not afforded equal treatment and support in pursuing tenure.
- Horn was denied tenure and was dismissed a year later, cutting the female faculty members university-wide to just 18.
Dive Insight:
Research suggests a prevalent imbalance in the representation of women in faculty, even though numbers have improved in recent years. But colleges have an imperative to ensure that departments and individuals schools are exercising due diligence in ensuring diversity is a priority in hiring and promotion.
The imperative for gender diversity, particularly in faculty, will be of extreme importance in coming years as more students seek higher education, and will require the mentoring and nurturing as a key component of completion.