Affirmative action director charges Pitt-Johnstown president with discrimination, harassment and retaliation

JOHNSTOWN, Pa.
According to the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown's affirmative action director, the institution's president told her that he did not believe in affirmative action and would do everything possible to avoid implementing its principles.

Ensuing events have led Clea Patrick Hollis to U.S. District Court, where she is suing the school and its president, Dr. Albert L. Etheridge, for race and sex discrimination. The suit contends that Hollis was harassed, isolated, and excluded from functions at the southwestern Pennsylvania branch of the University of Pittsburgh as a way tv) prevent her from doing her job.

Hollis is seeking compensation for lost earnings, damages for emotional distress, and legal fees. She is also seeking punitive damages. On the advice of her attorneys, she has refused to comment publicly on the suit.

In the lawsuit, Hollis said she was demoted from the university cabinet to a mid-level administrator, and her position was reduced from full- to part-time. The three-count civil action charges Etheridge and the university with sex discrimination in hiring; race discrimination in employment; and retaliatory harassment, deprivation of civil rights and sex discrimination in employment; and sexual harassment and retaliation.

Etheridge refused to comment on the allegations. Ron Cichowicz, assistant news and information director for the University of Pittsburgh system, said attorneys had not been served and could not comment on the matter.

Perceptions and Realities

William Savage, the affirmative action director of the university system's main campus, said that the University of Pittsburgh strives for diversity at all five of its campuses.

Savage said the system has in place efforts to hire minority faculty and staff members. Broad searches are conducted that target minority groups. In cases where a search committee is used, the membership of that committee is chosen in an effort to represent diverse backgrounds.