Bennington Faculty Again Rebuffs President; Women Charge Tufts With Sex Discrimination

A sex-discrimination case filed by two women professors against Tufts University enters its fourth day of deliberation in U.S. District Court in Boston this morning.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed the charges on behalf of professors Barbara E. White and Christiane Joost-Gaugier in 1972 when Tufts denied their bids for tenure.

Nancy Gertner, the attorney for White, recently re-appointed assistant professor of Fine Arts at Tufts, said the trial may result in a landmark decision determining "how viable Title VII is for other women in an academic setting."

Lloyd Randolph, an official in Boston's division of the EEOC, said Tuesday the Civil Rights Act of 1964's Title VII provisions give any person who feels unfairly dealt with "by an employer because of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, has the right to file a charge with the EEOC."

Title VII has previously been instrumental in labor related decisions. This case marks a divergence in that the academic community is involved, Randolph said.

Prior to a March 1972 ammendment, "EEOC has had no jurisdiction over faculties of higher education," he said.

Betty Twarog, a former instructor in the Tufts Biology Department, gave testimony Wednesday which Gertner called "pivotal to the EEOC case."

Twarog's resignation in 1972 because of alleged salary discrepancies between men and women employees helped spark a class action suit against Tufts now pending before the district court on behalf of all females working at the university. The EEOC is handling this suit along with the White and Joost-Gaugier cases.

The preparation of computer readouts of Tufts employee salary scales requested by Gertner yesterday will necessitate a three-week recess for the court after today's session. The resulting advantage for the defense, which has not yet begun its presentation, will probably be challenged by the plaintiff's attorneys some time in the course of today's hearings