The Tuesday Post published a letter from Bernhard Debatin, professor of journalism and close friend of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism’s Director Robert Stewart, and recipient of a $4,100 merit raise from Director Stewart in November 2010.
In his letter, Debatin complained that a previous Post article failed to mention that he — similar to professors Chang, Bernt and Washburn — also received “highest possible ratings on annual peer evaluations for each of the last six years,” implying Bernt and Washburn had told the Post reporter.
Actually, Bernt and Washburn — in an explanatory table and in filings to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (all provided to The Post) — made clear that three of these four professors had exactly the same top merit ratings for six years (2004-2009) but that a public record request provided no record of any evaluation for Debatin in 2004.
The Post, according to public records provided by Director Stewart, was technically accurate. In reality, however, that sixth year in the record was not a factor in determining merit raises.
Debatin did, however, leave out any number of facts that support the complaints of age discrimination by Bernt and Washburn as he argued that such discriminatory practice had not occurred in the distribution of merit raises in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
What Debatin omitted from his letter, information that supports the complaints of age discrimination accepted by the EEOC and OCRV for investigation, was the following: Cheng and Debatin, both 53, received $4,100 in merit raises, 64 percent more than the $2,500 that Bernt, 63, and Washburn, 69, received even though all four had precisely the same six-year record of top merit evaluations.
What Debatin omitted from his letter criticizing Bernt and Washburn for filing complaints of age discrimination was that Yusuf Kalyango, a 38-year-old assistant professor, also received a $4,100 merit raise even though his annual merit ratings were lower for his two years as an assistant professor at OU than were merit ratings for Cheng, Debatin, Bernt, and Washburn for their last five or six years.
What Debatin omitted from his letter was the following: Eight faculty in journalism received merit raises; the five who received the highest raises (two with less than top evaluations) were substantially younger (53, 53, 47, 42, 38) than were the three faculty members with top merit evaluations, for two years in one case and six years in two cases, who received the smallest raises (58, 63, 69). The likelihood of this distribution having occurred by chance is 1.8 percent.
What Debatin omitted from his letter suggesting that Director Stewart could ignore the record of peer evaluations in the School of Journalism was mention of the provost’s written “Raise Pool Guidelines” requiring the raise distribution be “based on evaluations.”
What Debatin omitted from his letter was that, when asked by Bernt and Washburn why they did not receive the same $4,100 raises as did Kalyango, Cheng and Debatin, Director Stewart immediately offered only one justification — “We decided to give the higher raises to the younger faculty.”
That, Professor Debatin, constitutes a pattern of age discrimination, which disadvantages and disrespects older employees in the workplace in violation of the U.S. Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Ohio Fair Employment Practices Act.
Joseph Bernt and Patrick Washburn are professors in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
