Legal Advocacy Fund Cases
Cordes v. Stevens Institute of Technology
Case History
Jennifer Cordes is a former assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Stevens Institute of Technology. When Cordes requested promotion in 1994 after eight years of service, the chair of her department declined to recommend her for promotion at that time but stated he would do so the following year. In August 1994, Cordes went on approved family leave, but when she returned she was given only two and a half weeks to compile a tenure file while the customary time is three to six months. She was subsequently denied promotion and terminated. Cordes complained and was awarded a one-year emergency reappointment.
She was asked to resubmit her credentials for consideration but, despite unanimous support from the senior members of the department, Cordes was effectively denied promotion when the dean of faculty instructed the committee to take no action on her application. She filed suit in October 1996 for sex discrimination in the denial of promotion alleging that the justification for denying her promotion was pretextual as she was at least as qualified as male faculty members who had been promoted. The case settled out of court in 1999.