Library assistant loses discrimination lawsuit against Harvard ( "just a pretty girl." )

AP ^ | 04/04/2005 | Michael Kunzelman

[r5boston]

A federal court jury on Monday found that Harvard University did not discriminate against a library assistant who claimed her repeated bids for promotion were rejected by school officials because they saw her as "just a pretty girl."

Desiree Goodwin, who is black, claimed Harvard passed her over because of her race and gender.

A federal jury deliberated less than four hours Monday before finding in favor of Harvard.

"One of my friends said to me, no matter how it turns out, standing up for yourself is a victory in itself," Goodwin said. "I feel victorious in that sense."

[eclectic]

Behold the power of positive thinking. It is not important to win the lawsuit, but to sue!

[Supernatural]

She played the race card and the sex card...and lost!

I'll bet that doesn't happen very often.

[Nick Danger]

"I never set out to offend anybody," she said. "I haven't given them a reason to disrespect me."

Here's a job-seeking tip from Mister Personnel Helper: Do not become famous in your city for suing your employer. And that's it for today's job-seeking tip.

[Enterprise]

"It's just so unfair being discriminated against when you're black and beautiful."

[FreedomCalls]

[r5boston]

yep, that's the "pretty girl"

[MHT]

I've followed this lawsuit and am absolutely amazed that this woman did not win. She sounded very competent and probably should have been promoted.

Once again, Harvard doesn't have to play by the rules. However, they make them for everyone else except themselves. (In other words, let's see if St. Someplace Community College could have won such a suit!)

[TFine80]

There should be a Harvard ping list... So much nonsense always comes out this place.

[mcg1969]

I'm glad to know that you've had full access to the evidence in this case. Care to share it with us?

[Hilltop]

But, does she know why fatback and greens should spend time together. Can she spell grits, and has she consummed them?

If not, it's a real yawner.

[wideminded]

I also thought she had a decent case. It was entirely plausible that her coworkers were jealous of her looks and categorized her unfairly. Probably pretty hard to fight Harvard in court though.

[MHT]

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=74459

For starters...

[Capriole]

I sympathize with her. When I was in my mid-twenties, long long ago, I was a very pretty blonde. I got into a rigorous PhD program at a major university, and it was known that I'd paid for part of my undergraduate work by doing some fashion modelling. People immediately concluded that I'd gotten into the program on my back, and refused to believe I'd gotten in because I was one of the two most qualified candidates out of thousands to apply. I encountered a lot of suspicion. It's very easy for me to imagine that any girl who was pretty and dressed in a flattering way would encounter resistance at Harvard.

[mcg1969]

OK, that's a start. Next? Court transcripts would help. Just whatever the jury had, I mean.

[caspera]

I am conflicted.

I despise people who hustle and sue and pull the race card. Strike one.

I detest women who hustle and sue and pull the gender card. Strike two.

I am overwhelmed by desire for obviously intelligent sexy librarians in mini-skirts with Bond-girl names who try to knock those phony baloney Cantabrigian hypocrites down a peg. I am sure she was resented by those mealy bespectacled Plain Janes at Widener.

Ground-rule double, I guess.

Desiree Goodwin can visit my carrel anytime. As long as her lawyer ain't with her.

[radiohead]

I tend to agree with you, but also had some questions:

1. she didn't win the internal administrative hearings
2. she didn't win the state hearing

I have to wonder what the details of her work record were. Is Harvard so powerful that they can screw a seemingly qualified woman, not only out of promotions, but out of administrative and judicial remedy?

And, if she was so unqualified, why didn't they let her go during that time? Why keep someone on who was incompetent, incapable of being promoted, and causing you problems down at the HR office besides?

I'd love to get the details on this. As a lapsed lawyer, this just seems odd. There must have been something else in her file for Harvard not to roll over when she played the race card. As a doctoral student in information science, where a lot of my classmates are librarians, and cute, hyper-qualified ones at that, we've been watching this case with interest.

[MHT]

Her employment was a "diversity" plus for Harvard not only because of her race but because she was female. Furthermore, she was already an employee within the Harvard system when she applied for promotion. In my time of employment at Harvard years ago, current employees were given preference and not having to be re-trained or wait out a probationary period was considered an asset.

I think that her qualifications are more impressive than her looks. Perhaps she had some vague problem which would seem overtly discriminatory if named, like bad people skills. Perhaps she wore too much perfume or something else that would be inappropriate to mention like chronic flatulence.

Harvard is one of the largest employers in the state of Massachusetts and its affiliate network seems infinite. It would take alot for a judge or anybody else to go against them.