Pikes Peak Community College Settles Lawsuit With Professor.

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Author: Fogg, Peter

AFTER A FOUR-YEAR COURT RATTLE, Pikes Peak Community College has settled a lawsuit brought by Katherine S. Sturdevant, a professor who was stripped of her role as head of the history department after defending a colleague who had penned a parody titled "Gringo American Studies."

The college, in Colorado Springs, agreed last month to reinstate Ms. Sturdevant as department chairwoman and to award her $75,000 and a raise.

Ms. Sturdevant, who began teaching at Pikes Peak in 1986, sued the college in federal court in May 1998. The defendants also included the college's president, Marijane A. Paulsen, who is now retired, and Jane Abbot, dean of the division of communications, humanities, and social sciences, which houses the history department. The lawsuit against the college was dismissed this year because the institution was deemed to have immunity under the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but all of the individuals remained as defendants.

Ms. Sturdevant said college officials had retaliated against her for her activities as president of the Pikes Peak Community College Faculty Association. In that capacity, she had led a survey-style evaluation of top administrators.

She also claimed that those same administrators had retaliated against her for supporting a colleague who satirized ethnic-studies programs. Luis Chavez, a fellow member of the faculty association, had created a mock proposal for a "Gringo American Studies" program. When he was disciplined and suspended as a result of the suggestion, she testified on his behalf at a successful appeals hearing at the college in 1997. The mock program was a legitimate political satire, she argued.

In her lawsuit, Ms. Sturdevant contends that in direct retaliation, the administration stripped her of her job as head of the history department, took away her office on the new campus, reassigned her to the older campus, removed her from various college committees, denied her merit raises, and gave her a negative evaluation after 12 years of positive performance reviews.

The college denied in court filings that officials had retaliated against the professor in any way.

Both parties agreed to a settlement that prevents either side from discussing the terms. Accordingly, the professor's lawyer declined to comment. Joseph A. Garcia, president of Pikes Peak, said he is glad the matter is resolved.

The agreement reinstates Ms. Sturdevant as the history department's chairwoman and guarantees her three years of employment as such and as a faculty mentor, a position that carries a $500 stipend per semester.

The college agreed to give her a lump-sum payment of $75,000 and a merit raise of $1,371 a year, and to let her teach two extra courses for pay beyond the usual load. Pikes Peak also agreed to finance Ms. Sturdevant's attendance at a retreat in California next year for heads of academic departments.

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By Peter Fogg