Chichilnisky praised by Nobel economists and considered to be among world's
best
WHAT: Columbia University Professor Graciela Chichilnisky Press
Conference
WHEN: Monday, June 16, 8 AM
WHERE: The Supreme Court of The State of New York, 60 Centre Street, New
York City, Room 438 (NOTE: The Press Conference will be held on
the front steps of the courthouse) Additional Note: Peter
Eisenberger is a famous physicist former director of Exxon
worldwide research laboratories, professor a Princeton University
and founding Director of Princeton Materials Institute and
Columbia's Earth Institute, as well as Columbia's Lamont Doherty
Earth Sciences Laboratories.
Eisenberger will testify that he was a Vice Provost at Columbia
University and in that role the University tried to get him to
remove my seven (7) Low Library research offices - and remove me
personally from "all positions of leadership" for no cause -
which he thought was illegal (gender discrimination). Columbia's
Provost and Vice Provost Mike Crow wrote letters saying that the
University threatened to fire him if he did not. Eisenberger
wrote letters saying all this was illegal and he could not do it
- and was forced to resign.
Eisenberger will be a witness on Monday at Trial, and he will
talk to journalists.
BACKGROUND:
In 1995, Chichilnisky won a $500,000 settlement and equalization of her
salary. Since then Columbia has both reneged on elements of the settlement and
retaliated against her. In 2000, Chichilnisky got a restraining order when
Columbia dismantled her offices, and began litigating a second time. That
second case has most recently been in pretrial motions in the New York State
Supreme Court, with Judge Leland DeGrasse presiding. Chichilnisky's attorney,
Robert Felix, had amended her complaint to include punitive damages against
Columbia, as well as disability discrimination.
In response, Columbia filed a motion asking for unprecedented sanctions
against Chichilnisky on procedural issues, including dismissal of her case
because of her behavior during litigation. For example, Chichilnisky reported
the date of a second family emergency as the first, an understandable
confusion because they were only weeks apart. Columbia also asks the court to
allow a counter-suit against Chichilnisky (charging her with owing them money
for the time she was on leave) without permitting a defense. In effect,
Columbia was trying to keep Chichilnisky's case from coming to court and to
prevent her from responding to the countersuit.
On February 15, 2006, Chichilnisky learned that the court had found
against a motion which would have denied her the right to sue. The judge has
put the case under a special referee to deal with disputes regarding
discovery, and promised to set a trial date in April 2007.
Chichilnisky reports that her attorney says this ruling has set an
important precedent. Columbia had attempted a rare and extremely aggressive
move designed to deprive Chichilnisky of basic constitutional rights, but
failed. Columbia's outside lawyers, Proskauer and Rose are the largest, most
aggressive and powerful law firm in New York, known for their scorched-earth
techniques against plaintiffs such as labor unions. For Chichilnisky's case, a
Proskauer lawyer works with a team of ten, all financed by Columbia's
insurance.
Motions for punitive damages and disability discrimination are still
pending. These are based on new facts unearthed by discovery. These show that
Columbia used Chichilnisky's Lyme disease as an opportunity to cancel and
remove from her over two million dollars in research grants. In spite of the
fact that Chichilnisky had told Columbia that she would be able to continue
her promised research, Columbia wrote to her grantors without informing her
and stated that her illness did not allow her to do research. Using illness to
destroy work and professional credibility is considered disability
discrimination.
Having eliminated her grants, Columbia eliminated Chichilnisky's research
group offices, without explanation, throwing out her computers and losing or
destroying her records. These actions were the impetus for the present suit.
Recent acts of disability discrimination included denying her an on-campus
office even after being informed that hip dysplasia and weakness from her Lyme
disease made the physical exertion of carrying teaching materials around
campus painful and difficult.
However, individuals at Columbia have been supportive. A new department
chair has given Chichilnisky an on-campus office. Together with various deans,
the new chair has acknowledged Chichilnisky's contributions to her students
and the university. And, Chichilnisky was recently elected to Columbia's
University Senate.
The case has received attention from outside of academe. Erin Essenmacher,
a documentary film-maker, has begun work on a film on discrimination in
academia against female scientists. Chichilnisky and her daughter, Natasha (a
science student at Columbia), were both interviewed for this film. In 2006,
Chichilnisky was designated one of the ten most influential Hispanics in the
United States. In June of 2006, CBS News at 5:00 (channel 2 in New York City),
ran a story on her case. In January 2007, CNN ran a story about the case on
its national network.
Contact: Marc Rutledge
(202) 466-9633
marc@turnerstrategies.com
SOURCE Graciela Chichilnisky
