Proportional Representation

Theda R. Skocpol, associate professor of Sociology, was unhappy when the senior members of her department decided last month not to recommend her for tenure. "I am deeply hurt by this unnecessary rejection," she said shortly thereafter.

So hurt, in fact, that this week Skocpol filed a grievance with Dean Rosovsky, charging that the Sociology Department discriminated against her because she is a woman.

The first formal grievance ever filed by a Faculty member, Skocpol's complaint alleges that the department has displayed discriminatory patterns in its tenure decisions, sources in contact with Skocpol said this week.

It also states that sexual stereotypes influenced the department's discussion of Skocpol's case, sources said.

But several members of the department said this week they considered Skocpol's complaints unfounded. "It is absolutely the truth that the department was leaning over backwards and really gave her considerable advantage because she's a woman," Nathan Keyfitz, Andelot Professor of Sociology, said yesterday.

"We're embarrassed" by the lack of senior women Faculty members in Sociology, he added. Sociology currently has no tenured women in its senior ranks.

James A. Davis, chairman of the Sociology Department, agreed that "matters of sex had nothing what-soever to do with the decision" and added that he expects the grievance to fail. "I'm not even worried about it," he said.

Whatever the outcome, Skocpol said this week she was "glad that a University grievance channel is open to me" and added that she believes her complaint "should be investigated judiciously and confidentially according to the established procedures."