A former Brown professor who was denied tenure in 1993 will receive about $1.3 million from the University after the state Supreme Court ruled in his favor Monday, ending a decade-long legal battle over the circumstances of his denial of tenure, the Providence Journal reported Tuesday.
Fred Shoucair, who was appointed an assistant professor of engineering in 1987, sued the University in 1996 over what he claimed were discriminatory and retaliatory reasons for his dismissal, according to the Journal. The court's ruling requires Brown to pay Shoucair $455,000 plus accumulated interest in back pay and compensatory damages but does not require the University to reinstate him or pay punitive damages.
Shoucair claimed in his original suit that Brown had "tolerated and even condoned" a work environment hostile to his Lebanese heritage and that he was denied tenure because of his ethnicity and because he refused to interview a minority candidate for a position he believed was already filled, according to the Journal.
A 2003 jury sided with Shoucair on the claim of retaliation while rejecting his claims of discrimination. The jury originally awarded him $400,000 in back pay, $175,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages. A later ruling refused to overturn the jury's award but reduced Shoucair's back pay award to only $280,000. The Supreme Court further reduced his payment, eliminating $100,000 in punitive damages in Monday's ruling.
"Brown maintained that, in effect, Shoucair fell short of tenure by virtue of a modern corollary to the venerable 'publish or perish' adage - one that assesses professors/researchers on the ability to attract lucrative grants on a regular basis," said Justice Paul Suttell in his 28-page opinion, adding that the jury instead blamed Shoucair's denial of tenure on the "retaliatory animus" of his tenure review committee.
Brown spokeswoman Molly de Ramel declined to comment to the Journal on the court's ruling.
