Assistant Professor at Tufts Charges Sex Bias in Hiring

A Tufts University assistant professor filed a sex-discrimination complaint against the school two weeks ago, the seventh such grievance against Tufts in three years.

D. Dawn Hooker, assistant professor and coordinator of physical education and dance, filed the complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Another sex bias case involving Tufts and two faculty members is currently being heard in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Hooker was denied tenure in April 1974 due to a lack of "traditional academic scholarship"--such as publishing a book--and not enough "creativity" in program development, she said yesterday. Strained relationships in the athletic department were also cited as a reason by the tenure committee, she said.

Hooker claims that the committee's decision is discriminatory in several ways. Scholarship has never been a criterion for physical education professors, she said, and she was never informed of any elevated requirements.

A spokesman for Tufts Provost Kathryn McCarthy said yesterday that administrators have not yet examined the case.

Whatever standards were used, they were not "applied across the board" for male personnel, Hooker said. She said that academic scholarship was not considered when another committee appointed a male athletic director, who received tenure, in the summer of 1974.

Hooker said she feels that it is "very probable" there may be more suits against Tufts in the spring.

Hooker said she feels that it is "very probable" there may be more suits against Tufts in the spring.