Windsor law did not discriminate

The University of Windsor has issued a response to charges of racial and sexual discrimination lodged against it by failed dean of law candidate Emily Carasco, saying that she “lacked sufficient scholarly gravitas.”

Although Carasco claims that she was the best of the two failed short-listed candidates, the university has responded saying she actually scored below the other candidate, Scott Fairley (who is a white man), “despite being granted extra points due to her gender and self-identification as a visible minority,” according to a report by the National Post.

The search committee, which is staffed by a number of women and members of visible minorities, received mostly negative feedback on Carasco according to the university’s response, including statements that she would be “a disruptive and divisive force” and “would condemn the law school to years of acrimony, division and dysfunction.”

In a totally non-disruptive move, Carasco has asked that the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario stop the school’s search for a new dean and appoint her to the position instead. She is also seeking $60,000 from the school for “injury to dignity” and $15,000 from colleague Richard Moon who, she alleges, sabotaged her candidacy.

The university’s response indicates that the search committee’s final vote showed two in favour of Carasco, one in favour of Fairley, and eight for neither. The HRTO has said it will not interfere in the new dean of law selection (after asserting it could, if it wanted to) and the university continues to look for a new dean.