Adams v. Trustees UNC Wilmington, et al. - National Association of ...

faculty voted on plaintiff's application.By unanimous consentof the faculty, Snowden, who was absent due to illness, wasallowed to cast her vote by proxy. The final tally was 7-2against plaintiff's application for promotion. The followingday, Cook sent a memorandum to defendant Cordle, Dean of theUNCW College of Arts and Sciences, memorializing the decision ofthe department that plaintiff's record did not merit promotionto full professor, and adopting that decision as her own. 9Because Cook's decision was final, the dean, provost,chancellor,and board of trustees never reviewed plaintiff'sapplication.Plaintiff sought written justification for the decision todeny his application as well as the vote count.(See Compl. Ex.47.) On September 18, 2006, Cook sent Cordle and others thefirst draft of amemo she was preparing to send to plaintiff.In the text of her email she said the draft memo"accuratelyreflects the sentiments of the senior faculty and myown./I(Cook Dep. Ex. 0.)She went on to say, with respect to the areaof teaching, that "the record was adequate, though thediscrepancies between the [student evaluations] and the peerevaluationsgenerated some concern. /I (Id. ) With respect toresearch, she stated, "the record was inadequate to merit9Al though Cook could have gone against the senior facultyvote and recommended promotion, she chose not to do so.21Case 7:07-cv-00064-H Document 146 Filed 03/15/2010 Page 21 of 39