A three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated a lawsuit filed by a former doctoral student at the University of Oregon. The student, Monica Emeldi, alleges that her dissertation adviser retaliated against her after she complained about gender discrimination against women doctoral students.
In the ruling, Judge Ronald Gould wrote, “Women students should not be deterred from advancing pleas that they be treated as favorably as male students. A student cannot complete the university’s Ph.D. program without a faculty dissertation chair, and the loss of a chair is an adverse action.”
In the case, the university claimed that Emeldi’s adviser resigned because his student failed to make recommended changes to the dissertation that would have made it better. A statement from the university’s general counsel said that the ruling would “alter the time-honored relationship between faculty and graduate students.” The university has vowed to appeal the ruling.