Former dean settles lawsuit for $105K

After filing a lawsuit in 1997 against the University Medical School claiming it discriminated against him, former Assistant Medical School Dean Thomas Landefeld said he harbors no ill feelings toward the University.

Landefeld settled with the University on Oct. 18 for $105,000.

Although Landefeld said the terms of the settlement limit what he can say regarding the case, he did reveal some of his personal feelings about it, which he said did not provide the basis for his case.

"It was never about that. In fact, U of M was an excellent place for me as a researcher," Landefeld said, who currently is the associate dean for faculty affairs and scholarly activities at California State University at Dominguez Hills.

But his claim stated that the Medical School fostered a racist environment.

"We are pleased that the case is resolved," University Deputy General Counsel Liz Barry said, adding that she cannot not comment on "personnel matters."

The terms of the settlement stipulated that the University's payment to Landefeld is not to be taken as an admission of liability. In fact, the settlement states that the University "specifically (denies) any liability or wrongdoing whatsoever."

Landefeld claims that the University began treating him unfairly after he publicly spoke out against what he perceived to be a racist environment.

In 1993, he wrote a letter to the pharmacology department chair claiming one of the professors was racist. That year, he also testified in a discrimination case brought against the University by a former medical student.

After he made these accusations, Landefeld claimed the University began to discriminate against him by not giving him standard salary increases, removing him from his administrative position, not allowing him effectively to recruit minority students and refusing him a one-year leave of absence.

But Landefeld was not the first to bring attention to a possible discriminatory environment in the Medical School.

In 1996, a study conducted by the independent, Washington, D.C.-based firm Nichols and Associates revealed that women and minority students found the Medical School to be an uncomfortable and unwelcoming environment.

Current Medical School Dean Allen Lichter said the Medical School is now taking steps to make women and minorities feel more welcome.

"We take the results of the study very seriously. We believe we have an obligation to make the Medical School an environment where everyone feels nurtured," he said.

In light of the study, Lichter said he and his staff are "aggressively taking steps" to improve conditions and are "determined to change the culture inside the Medical School."

Though Lichter admitted there is still much room for progress, he emphasized that, "there is a lot being done."

Lichter did not comment directly on Landefeld's case.

As for Landefeld, he said he is still committed to creating an educational atmosphere more receptive to minority needs.

Citing his efforts to advance minority student progress such as chairing the diversity committee for Sigma Xi, an international honor society for scientific and engineering research, Landefeld said, "One can only be truly successful in this area ... if one is totally committed to the cause of improving conditions for under-represented minority students."

11-05-99