Suit alleges gender bias in UC physics labs
Kate Murphy, kmurphy@enquirer.com 8:22 p.m. EDT July 5, 2016


A pre-med student is challenging the University of Cincinnati’s practice of restricting men and women from working together in physics labs.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, Casey Helmicki, 19, said UC and its professors are encouraging gender-based discrimination in direct violation of federal Title IX provisions and the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment.

The lawsuit asks UC to stop the practice of segregating any class or educational program by sex.

“It’s a little bit demoralizing to realize that we weren’t able to work with other genders in the lab,” Helmicki told The Enquirer. “As a woman in science, studying chemistry and neuroscience, it was alarming that a school like UC would allow something like this to be permitted in the classroom.”

The university, professor Larry Bortner, former Title IX Coordinator Jyl Shaffer, teaching assistant Mostafa El Demery and professor Kathleen Koenig are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The Enquirer has contacted multiple UC officials seeking comment about the lawsuit, but as of late Tuesday, no response was provided. UC has until July 25 to respond to the lawsuit in federal court.

The Enquirer had requested documents regarding another Title IX investigation filed in February, but the university denied the request, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

The university also failed to provide requested records of all Title IX cases against UC and their outcomes since 2010.

Helmicki said that on the first day of physics lab in August, a teaching assistant told her to sit and work only with other female students. The assistant, identified as El Demery, told her “women shouldn’t be working with men in science.”

Bortner, who charged El Demery with those instructions, defended the policy when Helmicki approached him with concerns shortly after that class, she said.

Helmicki then approached Koenig, who is the head of UC’s physics department. Koenig insisted that neither UC nor the department had such policies and the separation shouldn’t be happening, Helmicki said.

Days later, Koenig brought the issue to Bortner and he further defended his method that “having all-female groups is better” in a Sept. 2 email exchange.

Bortner also explained the reasoning behind the policy in a Sept. 9 email to the Title IX Coordinator Shaffer, who has since resigned. Karla Phillips is serving as the university’s interim Title IX coordinator.

Helmicki’s attorney, Chris Finney, filed copies of the email exchanges among university officials with the lawsuit.

“Physicists are predominantly male,” Bortner wrote. “To change this, we try to make the educational environment open to females. Studies have shown that females do better in small lab groups (three or four) that contain more females than males than more males than females. I train instructors who teach the labs and have told them to rearrange groups if there is one female with three males; if at all possible have all-female groups.”

Shaffer backed Bortner’s policy multiple times in emails on Sept. 11. In one message, she wrote the practice was not “inherently inequitable,” but the university needs to ensure it doesn’t create an appearance of discrimination. She later recommended creating an “opt-out” alternative for students.

Shaffer asked staff members to study federal guidelines that would support implementing single-sex programs in education. Finney said the practice is “not constitutional and not legal for university-level education.”

“This has gone to the highest level of the university and we’ve tried to fix it in every commodious way possible,” Finney said. “But this isn’t just about Casey, this is about the university as a whole.”

He said universities are preparing people for the workplace and since this type of discrimination isn’t allowed at work, it shouldn’t be allowed at UC, either.

Helmicki ended up transferring to a physics lab with a different professor. She did not know about an active Title IX investigation until she received an email that a report was filed under her name, opened and closed. After receiving the email, Helmicki went to Shaffer’s office and was told Bortner reported the matter on his own, causing UC to create a Title IX report, according to court documents.

Helmicki wants to become a physician and will apply to medical schools after graduating from UC. She fears the complaint will be a stain on her student record.

“I hadn’t even touched that piece of paper,” she said. “I wasn’t told about it until I got a random email that the complaint was closed.”

Despite university guidance that students should not be forced into a single-sex format without offering an alternative, Helmicki said women still work separately from men in physics labs. She said the policy is shocking “considering how far women have come in science fields.”

“You read about it and other issues in history books,” Helmicki said. “But it’s hard to realize in 2016 things like this could still be written into new ones.”

Physics case timeline

Here's a timeline of events based on documents provided in Casey Helmicki's lawsuit against UC:

August 2015 - Helmicki told to work only with other women in the physics lab, according to Professor Larry Bortner's policy.

September 2015 - Helmicki approaches Professor Kathleen Koenig with concerns. Koenig denies that there is such a policy. Bortner later defends his method that males and females should work separately in the lab. Bortner brings his method to the attention of Jyl Shaffer in the Title IX office. Shaffer backs Bortner's "research-based" method, but suggests an "opt-out" policy.

November 2015 - Helmicki learns about a Title IX complaint being filed with the university. Shaffer told her it was resolved informally.

February - Helmicki sends a letter to UC demanding an end to the lab practice.

April - Lori Ross, a UC attorney, replies to Helmicki's letter stating that the university advised the professor to change the policy and he did so.

July - Helmicki files a lawsuit challenging the policy.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/201.../86712532/

Maybe I am being obtuse but I fail to see how not allowing male and females to pair up is discrimanatory. I could understand the arguement if women were excluded from the labs altogether but that is not the case here. I seem to recall a similar story made some national press a year or two ago.

Any unequal treatment based on sex is prohibited under Title IX. A black eye for UC.

Is it unequal for the girl not to be in a group with the guys or is it unequal for the guys not to have a girl in their group?

(07-06-2016 04:44 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  Maybe I am being obtuse but I fail to see how not allowing male and females to pair up is discrimanatory. I could understand the arguement if women were excluded from the labs altogether but that is not the case here. I seem to recall a similar story made some national press a year or two ago.

Separate But Equal, the main thing that the ENTIRE Civil Rights battle in the 60's and 70's was about. Not a good practice to be in, even if discriminatory isn't the best word to classify it.

(07-06-2016 10:39 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(07-06-2016 04:44 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  Maybe I am being obtuse but I fail to see how not allowing male and females to pair up is discrimanatory. I could understand the arguement if women were excluded from the labs altogether but that is not the case here. I seem to recall a similar story made some national press a year or two ago.

Separate But Equal, the main thing that the ENTIRE Civil Rights battle in the 60's and 70's was about. Not a good practice to be in, even if discriminatory isn't the best word to classify it.

If I recall, there was a story last year where a Nobel Prize winning Scientist came out and said male and female students perform best in the labs where the sexes are segregated. Apparently several other Nobel Prize winners, including some females, came forward and agreed. The point I was trying to make is that I think this is not an uncommon practice in science.

What was the Title IX incident UC settled internally? Title IX is a complete joke. There are like 100 plus Universities facing these lawsuits right now. I think Stanford is facing 3 separate ones and with the way the media comes out 100% in the corner of the plaintiff regardless of the facts it's no wonder schools like FSU and Tennessee have settled. It's better to just get it out of the way than have a black cloud hanging over you from the media while trying to fight it.

I think this is more of an issue with a GA/TA then the university. When I took a physics Lab my freshman year (General Calc Based Physics 1 Lab), it was mostly guys in there, but the women were spread around, unless by their own choice.

This is a definitely an issue with the TA/GA and not a university policy.

(07-06-2016 10:55 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(07-06-2016 10:39 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(07-06-2016 04:44 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  Maybe I am being obtuse but I fail to see how not allowing male and females to pair up is discrimanatory. I could understand the arguement if women were excluded from the labs altogether but that is not the case here. I seem to recall a similar story made some national press a year or two ago.

Separate But Equal, the main thing that the ENTIRE Civil Rights battle in the 60's and 70's was about. Not a good practice to be in, even if discriminatory isn't the best word to classify it.

If I recall, there was a story last year where a Nobel Prize winning Scientist came out and said male and female students perform best in the labs where the sexes are segregated. Apparently several other Nobel Prize winners, including some females, came forward and agreed. The point I was trying to make is that I think this is not an uncommon practice in science.

I completely understand the merit of it, but unfortunately the ink has been dry for quite some time on the Education Amendments of 1972, not matter how much they conflate the way we operate most of the time.

My question is how did UC let this get as far as litigation without fixing the issue? Seems pretty easy case to me.

(07-06-2016 02:16 PM)Bearcat Otto Wrote:  My question is how did UC let this get as far as litigation without fixing the issue? Seems pretty easy case to me.

There are no free-body diagrams or force calculations for the Big 12 therefore UC admin don't give a crap.

(07-06-2016 10:27 AM)Racinejake Wrote:  Is it unequal for the girl not to be in a group with the guys or is it unequal for the guys not to have a girl in their group?

Yes, men are smarter. Girls will leech off of them.

(07-06-2016 08:22 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(07-06-2016 10:27 AM)Racinejake Wrote:  Is it unequal for the girl not to be in a group with the guys or is it unequal for the guys not to have a girl in their group?

Yes, men are smarter. Girls will leech off of them.

I'd love to think that you're being sarcastic. Sadly, I suspect that you aren't.

UC responds to Title IX lawsuit
Kate Murphy, kmurphy@enquirer.com 2:07 p.m. EDT July 20, 2016


The University of Cincinnati has responded to allegations in a recent lawsuit that men and women are restricted from working together in the university's physics labs, saying separation by gender is "voluntary."

Peter Landgren, interim senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, sent an email to UC faculty last week outlining "guidance on group projects."

"In keeping with the federal laws regarding Title IX, I write to remind all of our teaching faculty and staff across all of our campuses who assign group projects to ensure that all groups for all class assignments and projects are completely and voluntarily formed by the students themselves or are randomly formed by instructors without coordinating the gender composition of the groups," he wrote. "The university does not permit any practices to the contrary."

A UC spokesman said the email was also an opportunity for the university to reinforce its support for Title IX.

The email came days after 19-year-old pre-med student Casey Helmicki filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati against the university's "demoralizing" practice. She said UC and its professors are encouraging gender-based discrimination in direct violation of federal Title IX provisions and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The lawsuit asked UC to stop the practice of segregating any class or educational program by sex.

The Enquirer contacted multiple UC officials seeking comment about the lawsuit, but no response was provided. UC has yet to respond to the lawsuit with a court filing.

The university, professor Larry Bortner, former Title IX coordinator Jyl Shaffer, teaching assistant Mostafa El Demery and professor Kathleen Koenig are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

They were represented by Doreen Canton in a discussion the status of the temporary restraining order over a telephone conference in early July. Judge Susan J. Dlott presided over the hearing and Chris Finney, who is representing Helmicki, was also on the call, according to a transcript made for the court.

Canton opened her defense saying "apparently there is some research in STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and math), that women do better when they have women in their groups and there's a minority of men,” according to the transcript.

She also said there is no UC or physics department policy that institutes a gender separation rule in the labs. She argued that it is "completely voluntary" for students to separate however they choose.

Finney said allowing a professor to suggest that students self-segregate is a problem. He also argued that grouping people by sex isn't legal and the option to opt-out isn't enough.

"That's not how we deal with equal rights in this country," he said. "It's not permissible at Procter & Gamble, it's not permissible at Macy's or Fifth Third, and it's not permissible at the University of Cincinnati. It's not how we treat adults in this country."

Canton responded by saying students make their own groups and any sex-based separation is voluntary.

Dlott determined the facts of the case were being represented differently based on a difference in opinion. She called for a preliminary injunction hearing on the temporary restraining order, which was terminated on Tuesday.

The dates of future court hearings are yet to be determined.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/201.../87337694/

(07-21-2016 07:58 AM)ctipton Wrote:  UC responds to Title IX lawsuit
Kate Murphy, kmurphy@enquirer.com 2:07 p.m. EDT July 20, 2016

The University of Cincinnati's logo
(Photo: Provided)

The University of Cincinnati has responded to allegations in a recent lawsuit that men and women are restricted from working together in the university's physics labs, saying separation by gender is "voluntary."

Peter Landgren, interim senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, sent an email to UC faculty last week outlining "guidance on group projects."

"In keeping with the federal laws regarding Title IX, I write to remind all of our teaching faculty and staff across all of our campuses who assign group projects to ensure that all groups for all class assignments and projects are completely and voluntarily formed by the students themselves or are randomly formed by instructors without coordinating the gender composition of the groups," he wrote. "The university does not permit any practices to the contrary."

A UC spokesman said the email was also an opportunity for the university to reinforce its support for Title IX.

The email came days after 19-year-old pre-med student Casey Helmicki filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati against the university's "demoralizing" practice. She said UC and its professors are encouraging gender-based discrimination in direct violation of federal Title IX provisions and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The lawsuit asked UC to stop the practice of segregating any class or educational program by sex.

The Enquirer contacted multiple UC officials seeking comment about the lawsuit, but no response was provided. UC has yet to respond to the lawsuit with a court filing.

The university, professor Larry Bortner, former Title IX coordinator Jyl Shaffer, teaching assistant Mostafa El Demery and professor Kathleen Koenig are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

They were represented by Doreen Canton in a discussion the status of the temporary restraining order over a telephone conference in early July. Judge Susan J. Dlott presided over the hearing and Chris Finney, who is representing Helmicki, was also on the call, according to a transcript made for the court.

Canton opened her defense saying "apparently there is some research in STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and math), that women do better when they have women in their groups and there's a minority of men,” according to the transcript.

She also said there is no UC or physics department policy that institutes a gender separation rule in the labs. She argued that it is "completely voluntary" for students to separate however they choose.

Finney said allowing a professor to suggest that students self-segregate is a problem. He also argued that grouping people by sex isn't legal and the option to opt-out isn't enough.

"That's not how we deal with equal rights in this country," he said. "It's not permissible at Procter & Gamble, it's not permissible at Macy's or Fifth Third, and it's not permissible at the University of Cincinnati. It's not how we treat adults in this country."

Canton responded by saying students make their own groups and any sex-based separation is voluntary.

Dlott determined the facts of the case were being represented differently based on a difference in opinion. She called for a preliminary injunction hearing on the temporary restraining order, which was terminated on Tuesday.

The dates of future court hearings are yet to be determined.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/201.../87337694/

That's for admitting the staff violated university policy (thus admitting negligence) Peter.

If I were UC's insurer I would be sending a Reservation of Rights letter right about now. Time to open up the checkbook.

(07-21-2016 08:22 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(07-21-2016 07:58 AM)ctipton Wrote:  UC responds to Title IX lawsuit
Kate Murphy, kmurphy@enquirer.com 2:07 p.m. EDT July 20, 2016

The University of Cincinnati's logo
(Photo: Provided)

The University of Cincinnati has responded to allegations in a recent lawsuit that men and women are restricted from working together in the university's physics labs, saying separation by gender is "voluntary."

Peter Landgren, interim senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, sent an email to UC faculty last week outlining "guidance on group projects."

"In keeping with the federal laws regarding Title IX, I write to remind all of our teaching faculty and staff across all of our campuses who assign group projects to ensure that all groups for all class assignments and projects are completely and voluntarily formed by the students themselves or are randomly formed by instructors without coordinating the gender composition of the groups," he wrote. "The university does not permit any practices to the contrary."

A UC spokesman said the email was also an opportunity for the university to reinforce its support for Title IX.

The email came days after 19-year-old pre-med student Casey Helmicki filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati against the university's "demoralizing" practice. She said UC and its professors are encouraging gender-based discrimination in direct violation of federal Title IX provisions and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The lawsuit asked UC to stop the practice of segregating any class or educational program by sex.

The Enquirer contacted multiple UC officials seeking comment about the lawsuit, but no response was provided. UC has yet to respond to the lawsuit with a court filing.

The university, professor Larry Bortner, former Title IX coordinator Jyl Shaffer, teaching assistant Mostafa El Demery and professor Kathleen Koenig are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

They were represented by Doreen Canton in a discussion the status of the temporary restraining order over a telephone conference in early July. Judge Susan J. Dlott presided over the hearing and Chris Finney, who is representing Helmicki, was also on the call, according to a transcript made for the court.

Canton opened her defense saying "apparently there is some research in STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and math), that women do better when they have women in their groups and there's a minority of men,” according to the transcript.

She also said there is no UC or physics department policy that institutes a gender separation rule in the labs. She argued that it is "completely voluntary" for students to separate however they choose.

Finney said allowing a professor to suggest that students self-segregate is a problem. He also argued that grouping people by sex isn't legal and the option to opt-out isn't enough.

"That's not how we deal with equal rights in this country," he said. "It's not permissible at Procter & Gamble, it's not permissible at Macy's or Fifth Third, and it's not permissible at the University of Cincinnati. It's not how we treat adults in this country."

Canton responded by saying students make their own groups and any sex-based separation is voluntary.

Dlott determined the facts of the case were being represented differently based on a difference in opinion. She called for a preliminary injunction hearing on the temporary restraining order, which was terminated on Tuesday.

The dates of future court hearings are yet to be determined.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/201.../87337694/

That's for admitting the staff violated university policy (thus admitting negligence) Peter.

If I were UC's insurer I would be sending a Reservation of Rights letter right about now. Time to open up the checkbook.

This is....not good.