Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [DKT. #42] VANESSA L. BRYANT, District Judge. Before the Court is a motion for summary judgment filed by the Defendants, the Board of Trustees (“Board”) of the Connecticut State University System at Central Connecticut State University (“CCSU”), the State of Connecticut (the “State”) and CCSU President Jack Miller (“President Miller” or “Miller”), in his individual capacity. The Plaintiff, Veeramathu Rajaravivarma (“Rajaravivarma”), brought this suit alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (“Title VII”) by Defendants CCSU and the State for unlawful denial of tenure on the basis of religion, race and national origin discrimination and retaliation. The Plaintiff also alleges violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, by Defendant Miller for unlawful denial of tenure on the basis of national origin and race discrimination as well as a claim for deprivation of his constitutional right of intimate association. Lastly, the Plaintiff alleges violations of the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act (“CFEPA’O, Conn. GemStat. § 46a-60 et seq. for the same conduct. For the reasons stated hereafter, Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is granted. Facts The following facts relevant to Defendant’s motion for summary judgment are undisputed unless otherwise noted. Rajaravivarma was hired as a full professor in the Computer Electronics and Graphics Technology Department at CCSU and began working at CCSU in the fall of 2001. [Dkt. # 42, Def.’s Statement of Undisputed Facts (“SUF”), ¶ 8]. Before beginning his career at CCSU, Rajaravivarma served as a research associate for four years and an engineering associate, in India, for three years. [Dkt. #48, Pl.’s Statement of Disputed Facts (“SDF”), ¶ 5]. His first teaching position was as an assistant professor at Tennessee State University. [Id. at ¶ 4]. He then taught at Morehead State University in Kentucky for three years as an assistant professor and one year as an associate professor. [Id. at ¶ 3]. His most recent position before CCSU was teaching at the School of Technology at North Carolina A & T State University for seven years, six as an associate professor, and one year as full professor. [Id. at ¶ 1], He received tenure at that position after four years of employment. [Id.]. He also ran his own research project at the School of Technology and managed several grants. [Id. at ¶ 2]. The Computer Electronics and Graphics Technology Department at CCSU is one of five belonging to the School of Engineering and Technology. [Dkt. #42, SUF, ¶ 10]. During the hiring process, he was interviewed by a faculty search committee which included Dr. Zanella, chair of the Department Evaluation ■ Committee (“DEC”) and Dr. Tracey, Department Chair, and also interviewed individually by Dean Kremens (“the Dean”). [Id. at ¶ 4], Both the DEC and the Dean enthusiastically recommended him to be hired. [Id. at ¶ 5-6]. Rajaravivarma identifies his national origin as Indian, his race as Indian or Asian and his religion as Hindu. [Dkt. #48, PL’s Statement of Disputed Facts (“SDF”), ¶¶ 23-24, 26]. The Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”) between the Board and the Connecticut State University American Association of University Professors requires that faculty members be reviewed and approved for renewal each year. After six years, the faculty member is required to apply for tenure although he or she may elect to apply earlier. If tenure is not granted, the faculty member’s contract is renewed for an additional year and then the faculty member is discharged. [See generally Dkt. # 42, Ex. E, Attachment 1, CBA]. The review and evaluation process for tenure and renewal are the same as outlined in the CBA. See [Dkt. # 42, SUF, ¶ 19-58 and Dkt. #48, SDF, Plaintiffs Responses to Defendant’s Rule 56(a)l Statement, ¶ 19-58]. A faculty member applying for tenure or renewal submits a portfolio to the DEC for his or her department. [Dkt. # 42, SUF, ¶ 22]. The DEC reviews the materials and submits a recommendation to the Dean of the School that the Department belongs to. [Id.]. The DEC recommendation must be signed by all its members, but a DEC member may elect to include a minority report, if he or she disagrees with the majority recommendation, to also be forwarded to the Dean. [Id. at ¶ 46]. The Department Chair is an “ex-officio, nonvoting member of the DEC” who may submit a separate recommendation to either the DEC or directly to the Dean. [Id. at ¶ 47-48]. If the candidate is applying for tenure, the Dean reviews all the materials and then submits his or her recommendation to the Promotion and Tenure Committee (“PTC”). [Id. at ¶ 49]. The PTC reviews all the materials and then submits a recommendation to the President. [Id. at ¶ 51]. The President consults with the Provost (the Academic Vice President) and then sends his recommendation to the Board. [Id. at ¶ 52-53]. The President is provided with all the original materials in the portfolio submitted by the faculty member, as well as the recommendations made by the DEC, Dean, and PTC. The President is not bound by the recommendations of any other reviewers. [Id. at ¶ 55-56]. The criteria for evaluating renewal and tenure applicants are also identical. Applicants are evaluated based on the quality of the candidate’s activity, including keeping current in one’s field, in five categories. [Id. at ¶ 32], These categories are weighed in the following order: 1) load credit activity, 2) creative activity, 3) productive service, 4) professional activity and 5) years in rank. [Id.]. “Load credit activity” is described in the CBA as “teaching, coaching, counseling, department chairperson, division director, library service, research, student supervision, or any other function specified in the letter of appointment or subsequent extension of modifications of such appointment (see Article 4.7) or identified in a letter of agreement.” [Id. at ¶ 33]. Teaching is usually the single largest component of a candidate’s load credit activity. [Id. at If 34]. Student evaluation forms are used as a significant method of assessing teaching quality, and virtually all candidates include all their student evaluations in the portfolio. [Id. at ¶¶ 35, 38], While student evaluation forms vary from department to department, the Computer Electronics and Graphics Technology Department gives students a thirty one question survey for each course. [Id. at ¶ 37]. For thirteen questions, the students are given a statement and asked to pick one of five possible responses: strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree or “the statement does not apply or I am uncertain.” [Id.]. “Creative activity” is described in the CBA as “[creative activity appropriate to one’s field, such as delivering papers at professional conferences, production / performance of artistic works, research, study and publication.” [Id. at ¶ 39]. Accordingly, the indicators of quality of creative activities are diverse and vary by field. [Id. aM40]. “Productive service” is described in the CBA as “[p]roductive service to the department and university.” “Productive service may include, but is not limited to, serving on the Faculty Senate, chairing a departmental search committee, serving on a curriculum committee or organizing student recruitment efforts.” [Id. at ¶ 42]. “Professional activity” is described in the CBA as “[p]rofessional activity, such as attendance and participation in conferences and workshops, membership and service in appropriate professional organizations and other professional activities.” [Id. at ¶ 43]. “Years in rank” refers to the number of years held at a certain teaching rank and the parties do not dispute the Plaintiffs years in rank. Although it appears that Rajaravivarma was required to apply for renewal each year, the parties have not submitted facts with respect to each year Rajaravivarma was renewed and have only provided certain facts with respect to Rajaravivarma’s renewal for 2003, 2005, and 2006. In mid-April, 2003, the DEC, which was comprised by Dr. Zanella, Olusegun Odesina and Sanford Rich, reviewed Rajaravivarma’s performance for renewal for the following academic year. [Dkt. # 42, Ex. D, Attachment 1]. The evaluation generally commended his performance. [See id.] However, the DEC did address three points of concern. First, under teaching load (the main component of load credit activity), the DEC noted that “[i]n general the evaluations for the Fall 2002 show improvement from Spring 2002. Students in CET 501 in both semesters did express some concerns about the course, which we hope Dr. Rajaravivarma addresses the next time he teaches the course.” [Id.] Second, under creative activity, the DEC “would encourage Dr. Rajaravivarma to continue the grant writing which he was actively involved with prior to coming to CCSU.” [Id.]. Lastly under “Service,” the DEC noted that Dr. Rajaravivarma had taken over developing a Computer Engineering Technology degree program built from their existing Electronic Technology and Networking programs but they “would ask Dr. Rajaravivarma to communicate better with his colleagues in the networking program. We would encourage him to coordinate with the other faculty working in that area to establish a state-of-the-art facility.” [Id.]. Rajaravivarma was ultimately renewed in 2003 to continue his employment with CCSU. Shortly after the DEC voted to recommend Rajaravivarma for renewal, Dr. Tracey, the Department Chair, sent an e-mail on May 2, 2003 to Dean Kremins, expressing some concerns she had with Rajaravivarma (who went by the nickname of Ravi at CCSU). She wrote that she “would like to schedule a meeting with you, Ravi and myself as we had intended to do several months ago. There are many issues we have discussed between us the past year, one being the gender and cultural issues, students have also brought these to my attention.” [Id.]. Dr. Tracey also indicated that “Rajiv and I had a confrontation yesterday after I sent the email stating that I was finalizing the selection of a computer table and Cisco lab upgrade. He said ‘that he demanded my respect because he was a Full Professor.’ I feel there are many social, cultural and gender issues clouding the departmental environment and working relationships.” [Id.]. In addition, Dr. Tracey indicated Deborah and her met with Ravi to discuss networking purchases and that “[bjefore we looked at the list of equipment, I asked Ravi what his vision was for the Networking program because we needed to purchase equipment to meet that vision. He could not answer the question, he became defensive, irritated, disruptive and to the process. This is his normal reaction to both Deborah and me.” [M], In summer of 2004, Rajaravivarma traveled to India during July and August to perform a Hindu ritual in his ancestral village because it was the first anniversary of his father’s death. Rajaravivarma asserts that he informed his departmental colleagues that he would be away to participate in a Hindu ceremony. [Dkt. #48, SDF, ¶ 40]. Rajaravivarma alleges that during the first week of the Fall 2004 semester while he was teaching he heard Dr. Zanella yelling and shouting repeatedly “Where is he.” [Id. at ¶ 41]. Rajaravivarma alleges that Dr. Zanella then entered his classroom and said “I was looking for you all over,” “where were you this summer.” [Id.]. Rajaravivarma further alleges he tried to talk to Dr. Zanella after class about what was bothering her and that Dr. Zanella was agitated and said she would “take care of [him].” [Id.]. Rajaravivarma then alleges that later that same day at a department meeting, he raised the issue of Dr. Zanella’s interruption of his class and told his colleagues that he didn’t understand why Dr. Zanella was so upset because he had informed her and his other colleagues that he was traveling to India to participate in a Hindu ritual. [Id. at ¶ 42]. Rajaravivarma alleges that in response Dr. Zanella grew angry and said “I don’t care what your religious beliefs are, I don’t care about them. I care about the lab.... The lab was messy. I don’t care what you were doing, you son-of-a-bitch.” [Id. at ¶ 43], Rajaravivarma then objected to the insult to his mother to which Dr. Zanella replied, “What’s wrong with that? This is America. People call people son-of-a-bitch. It’s common.” [Id.] Rajaravivarma had responsibility within his department for the development of a new undergraduate degree in computer engineering technology. In order to obtain certification for the degree from the Department of Higher Education, Rajaravivarma wrote and circulated a report on potential job opportunities for degree candidates in that field. [Id. at ¶44], In response to the report, Rajaravivarma alleges that Dr. Tracey told him that his conclusions were “wrong” and ‘You guys from India are taking away all of these jobs.” [Id.]. In the spring of 2005, Rajaravivarma was part of a faculty search committee to hire a new junior faculty position for the department. At one meeting, the committee was reviewing the group of qualified applicants to select individuals for telephone interviews. [Id. at ¶ 46]. At this meeting, Rajaravivarma alleges that Dr. Tracey said, “I wish this were a John Smith,” which Rajaravivarma interpreted to be referring to the fact that all the qualified applicants were Indian, Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian rather than Caucasian and not U.S. citizens. [Id.]. In mid-April 2005, the DEC reviewed Rajaravivarma’s performance and recommended him for renewal. Their evaluation generally was positive. [Dkt. # 42, Ex. D, Attachment 2]. However, the evaluation noted that “[t]he student evaluations for the graduate level courses are generally more positive than from the undergraduate courses. Although many students indicate that Dr. Rajaravivarma has done a good job in the classroom, many other students have not been happy with the lack of laboratory or hands-on work or with the online curriculum or course text book. We hope that Dr. Varma has addressed these constructive comments to improve his classroom experience.” [M] On April 26, 2005, Dean Kremens also recommended Rajaravivarma for renewal with similar reasoning to the DEC. [Dkt. #42, Ex. B, Attachment 1]. He stated while “[h]is student evaluations of classroom performance are generally positive. I need to reiterate however, with the DEC, that the practical aspects of the courses, i.e. lab experiments need some revising and revisions by the instructor. I agree that more adequate technical experiments be included into the lab based courses. I would recommend that the course syllabuses be more extensive and contain full schedule with timetable of lectures and laboratories topics, following the school’s format.” [Id.]. He also recommended that Rajaravivarma should “launch a long-term research agenda, appropriate for a computer engineering discipline and present outcomes at professional engineering forams,” although he did recognize that Rajaravivarma had made positive overall progress in terms of creative activity. [Id.]. In mid-April, 2006, the DEC reviewed Rajaravivarma’s performance and recommended him for renewal for another year, but had several concerns with his performance. [Dkt. #42, Ex. D, Attachment 3]. Under creative activity, the DEC’S evaluation noted that Rajaravivarma “has not published any refereed journal articles since 1994.” [Id.]. Under load credit activity, the evaluation noted that “Dr. Rajaravivarma receives some praise in his student evaluations, specifically in regards to him being a nice person in his treatment of students. However, there are sufficient comments critical of his lack of hands-on knowledge and real-world applications to be of concern.” [Id.]. The evaluation also contained a category captioned as “Recommendations.” In that section, the DEC noted that it “encourages Dr. Rajaravivarma to submit publications to a referred journal soon. In addition, there is real concern about the lack of leadership exhibited by him as a full professor. It was the school’s intention when hiring Dr. Rajaravivarma that he would be a leader in his department especially in regards to the networking and Computer Engineering Technology (CET) program.” [Id.]. With regards to a new degree program, the DEC noted that Dr. Rajaravivarma “put together the proposal for the CET program that was eventually approved by the Department of Higher Education” but that “[unfortunately, Dr. Rajaravivarma has done little to recruit students to this program as he was directed to do by the department. He also has not taken any initiative in working with other departments to develop needed courses for the program.” [/<£]. Lastly, the DEC indicated that the “students continued comments regarding Dr. Rajaravivarma [sic] lack of knowledge in networking are disturbing. Dr. Rajaravivarma presented himself as qualified to work with networks (CCNA certified) when he was hire. However, he does not have previous work experience in the field. This lack of experience is showing up in class. The DEC highly recommends that Dr. Rajaravivarma get some hands-on experience in the field, perhaps as volunteering to shadow an expert.” [Id.]. On April 19, 2006, Dr. Tracey, as Chair of the Department, wrote a recommendation against renewal to the Dean. [Dkt. # 42, Ex. C, Attachment 2]. For load credit activity, she stated that “[t]he comments from the student evaluations are both good and bad. The students find Dr. Rajaravivarma ‘a nice guy’ but lacking the technological expertise in networking. (See student comments). This is a concern since Dr. Rajaravivarma was hired for his technical expertise in networking.” [Id.]. Dr. Tracey also indicated that “[h]is leadership and guidance in the laboratory has been lacking.” [Id.]. For creative activity, she stated that “Dr. Rajaravivarma has several grants sited in his renewal documentation, many of which were obtained prior to his arrival at CCSU.” Dr. Tracey also indicated that “[i]t is a concern that he has not published any of his conference papers in referred journals. As a full professor it is an expectation to publish in a broader scope in his Engineering. His last citation of a refereed journal article was 1994.” [Id.]. For productive service, she stated that “Productive Service to the University and Department can be considered average.” She also noted that Rajaravivarma “misrepresented the number of advisee [sic] to be 108, when in fact new advising list are [sic] disseminated each semester and the active advisees are 48 undergraduate students for the Spring/Fall 2006 semester. Student advising seems to be lacking because several of Dr. Rajaravivarma’s advisees continue to ask for my assistance or advice.” [Id.]. Dr. Tracey further indicated that Rajaravivarma “has not taken responsibility for working out the specifications of a second level course to be offered by Computer Science. It wasn’t until the course was recently proposed by the Computer Science department that Dr. Rajaravivarma responded to an email dialog regarding course name, language to be taught etc. I asked him specifically to work out all details for this class even to write the course proposal and submit it to the Computer Science department for review, he failed to do this and now all details must be worked out during the University Curriculum review process.” [Id.]. She also criticized his lack of initiative in recruiting for the new degree provided and lack of curriculum contribution to the department. [Id]. Lastly, Dr. Tracey stated that “Dr. Rajaravivarma was hired to lead the department in the networking technology field, he has not provided any forward look, initiated any curriculum development or revision.” [Id.]. On May 6, 2006, the Dean recommended Rajaravivarma to President Miller for renewal “with serious reservations.” [Dkt. # 42, Ex. B, Attachment 2]. He wrote that “[t]he student evaluations are both positive and negative. The negative evaluations include student comments that Dr. Rajaravivarma is lacking in practical application of the subject matter. In technology programs, unlike some theoretical engineering curricula, the practical skills and proficiency of the instructor in laboratory environment are critical to student success in the educational process. This weakness is still visible in Dr. Rajaravivarma’s performance in this category.” [Id.]. The Dean did commend Rajaravivarma for improving the format of his course syllabi since his last renewal recommendation. [Id.]. The Dean also reiterated his prior recommendation to launch a long term research agenda and noted that Rajaravivarma has applied unsuccessfully for several external grants. [Id.] He expressed leadership concerns, finding that Rajaravivarma had “failed to provide the expected leadership in the lab development and equipment modifications.” [Id.]. In other productive service aspects however, he found Rajaravivarma’s contributions to the department and university to be “adequate.” [Id.]. The Dean concluded by saying that he fully agrees with the criticisms and recommendations of the DEC’S 2006 report. [Id.] He also indicated that he shares the DEC’S concerns that Rajaravivarma lacks “the hands-on teaching skills and necessary leadership which are obviously expected from a full professor. Thus he requires additional mentoring and counseling.” [Id.]. However, the Dean indicated that in his opinion, Dr. Rajaravivarma had “minimally [met] the quality standards” for renewal. [Id]. In May, 2006, Rajaravivarma’s wife Rathika Rajaravivarma was denied tenure at CCSU. [Dkt. # 48, SDF, ¶ 30]. In October, 2006, his wife filed an administrative complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (“CHRO”) and with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) claiming discrimination on the basis of race, national origin and sex. [Id at ¶ 31]. She and three other females were denied tenure in the spring of 2006. In the spring of 2006, President Miller held an open faculty forum to discuss the denial of tenure to female candidates which Rajaravivarma attended. [Id at ¶ 35]. At this forum, Miller explained the criteria he uses to evaluate candidates for tenure. [Id at ¶¶ 57-58]. Plaintiff alleges that President Miller stated at this forum that for “load credit activity, or teaching, a successful candidate for tenure, in his judgment, needed to show up for class, teach the classes in an intellectually honest manner with reasonably high standards and have responses on the student evaluations within the normal range.” [Id.]. Plaintiff also alleges that President Miller stated that “with respect to creative activity or scholarship, he thought a successful candidate for tenure needed to perform an adequate job of demonstrating traditional scholarship by a few paper presentations at important conferences, a few publications and work on grant activity.” [Id.]. Plaintiff alleges that in the fall of 2006, CCSU’s Faculty Senate Diversity Committee initiated an investigation into the denial of tenure to female candidates and issued a critical report on promotion and tenure opportunities at CCSU for women faculty. [Id. at ¶ 36]. Following the issuance of the report, the denial of tenure to Rajaravivarma’s wife was discussed in a number of Faculty Senate meetings which were attended by Rajaravivarma and President Miller. At these meetings, Plaintiff alleges that he spoke out against the discriminatory treatment of his wife. [Id. at ¶¶ 36-37], In the fall of 2006, Rajaravivarma submitted an application for tenure after serving six years at CCSU. [Id. at ¶ 63]. His application consisted of a portfolio which he compiled and included student evaluations for every course he taught at CCSU, teaching materials, published papers, documents of professional activities, documents of service to the university and community and letters of recommendation. [Id. at ¶ 64]. The DEC reviewed the materials Rajaravivarma had submitted for consideration and recommended Rajaravivarma for tenure on November 15, 2006. [Id. at ¶ 67]. The DEC recommendation stated that most of Rajaravivarma’s load credit activity comes from teaching, having taught many courses, working as a coordinator for laboratory courses, helping revise the curriculum for three existing classes and helping develop a new Bachelor of Science program. [Dkt. 48, Ex. A, Attachment 7]. The DEC recommendation indicated that Rajaravivarma’s “philosophy regarding teaching is evident in his ability to influence students as seem by his student’s evaluation of his teaching. He has been consistently rated positively by the majority of the class with a proportional range of 76% to 100% of the class population for all the major questions on the faculty evaluation survey of the courses he has taught except for CET 249 (spring 2005), where he received a proportional positive rating of 72% of the class population. A look at the comments by the majority of the students indicates a positively overwhelming review with suggestions to improve in a few cases.” [Id.]. The DEC further noted that Rajaravivarma has recently passed the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert examination which they indicate is a prestigious exam in the Computer Networking Technology field. [Id.]. With regards to creative activity, the DEC commended Rajaravivarma for publishing fifteen articles and presenting twenty two papers since his time at CCSU. [/A], The DEC also noted that Rajaravivarma has applied for forty research proposals for grants over his academic career and that at CCSU, he applied for fifteen grants and obtained eight of them. [Id.]. For productive service, the DEC noted that Rajaravivarma was on eight university wide committees, a student advisor to both graduate and undergraduate students, a program and lab coordinator and an active participant in both university wide and School of Engineering and Technology activities. [/A]. He also volunteers in the external community at Hartford Hospital, the Connecticut Invention organization, Noah Wallace School council and the New England Trio day program. [Id.]. For professional activities, the DEC noted the numerous professional organizations that Rajaravivarma belongs to as well as the many conferences, workshops and conventions he has participated in and attended. [M]. Dr. Zanella, chair of the DEC, wrote an extensive minority report on November 15, 2006, indicating that she did not recommend Rajaravivarma for tenure. In her minority report, Dr. Zanella indicated that she believed, in her professional opinion, tenure should not be granted because Rajaravivarma had not met the quality of activity for load credit activity, creative activity and productive service. [Dkt. # 48, Ex. A, Attachment 8]. For load credit activity, she indicated that Rajaravivarma “has received load credits as lab coordinator for the networking laboratory; however he did not take an aggressive approach to designing and setting up the networking lab. In the end, other faculty teaching in the lab demanded something be done with the lab. Shortly after that the School of Engineering and Technology computer staff took over the direction of the lab. The department chair had handled much of the equipment determination and ordering.” [Id.]. Dr. Zanella also noted that his student evaluations ranged from “very positive to very negative. When the data is sorted by undergraduate versus graduate level, the graduate rankings of Dr. Rajaravivarma’s classroom performance is consistently significantly higher than undergraduates. The undergraduate student rankings put Dr. Rajaravivarma’s performance in the C+ to B range with the quality of classroom instruction ranted [sic] below 80 for the previous two academic years.” After observing his teaching in class, she called his lecturing “uninspiring and the majority of class time seems to be spent in lab with the students working independently.” [Id], For creative activity, Dr. Zanella commented that “[although Dr. Rajaravivarma should be commended for attending and presenting at so many conferences, the caliber of publication is below what is expected of a full professor.” She explained that Rajaravivarma had put his name on five publications that were written by graduate students, although he had supervised them. [Id.]. Additionally, four papers were presented that were ultimately not published. [Id.]. In terms of grants, Dr. Zanella indicated all five of Rajaravivarma’s proposals to the National Science Foundation were rejected. [Id.]. He received four grants from the union to which he belongs and the School of Technology. [Id.]. He also assisted two student pairs in receiving student-faculty grants from the School of Technology and two more student pairs in receiving CCSU Faculty-Student grants. [Id.]. For productive service, she commented that his service to the university and community were acceptable, but noted that despite being asked by the department chair he did not write the re-licensing document for the Department of Higher Education and that although he did collect information from other faculty members the “majority of the progress report was written by the chairperson.” [Id.]. Dr. Zanella also commented that although he helped develop the new degree program, none of the actual courses were ever taught by him and the faculty teaching them were the ones who developed the curriculum. [Id.]. For professional activities, she recognized the large number of professional organizations and work he has done. [Id.]. Lastly, Dr. Zanella clarified that while Rajaravivarma has passed the written examination for the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert certification, “however he is not certified at this level until he passes the hands on portion of the exam.” [Id.]. On November 14, 2006, Dr. Tracey, the Department Chair, submitted to Dean Kremins a recommendation to deny Rajaravivarma tenure. [Dkt. # 48, Ex. A, Attachment 9]. Dr. Tracey stated that “[i]n my professional opinion, he has not met the quality of activity in the following categories ... credit activity, creative activity and productive service.” [Id]. For load credit activity, she reiterated her previous comment from her prior recommendation on renewal that the “comments from the student evaluations are both good and bad. The students find Dr. Rajaravivarma ‘a nice guy’ but lacking the technological expertise in networking technology (see student comments). This is a great concern for the department and program development since Dr. Rajaravivarma was hired for his technical expertise in networking. Dr. Rajaravivarma has donated time at Hartford Hospital to enhance his skill base, but that does not seem to be enough practice knowledge to support the classes he is currently teaching.” [Id]. Dr. Tracey also found that “his leadership and guidance in the networking laboratory has been lacking.” [Id.]. For creative activity, she noted with concern that he has not published in a peer referred journal since 1994, stating that “[a]s a full professor it is an expectation to publish in a broader scope in his field of Engineering.” [Id.]. She also indicated that many of his cited grants were obtained before his time at CCSU and several of his publications are in regional and national conference proceedings. [Id.]. For productive service, she concluded that he “can be considered average.” She found that his academic advising “seems to be lacking, because several of Dr. Rajaravivarma’s advisees continue to come to my office to seek advice in course selections and planning for graduation.” [Id.; see also Dkt. #42, Ex. C, Attachment 1 (e-mails from students to Dr. Tracey) ]. She also indicated that when Rajaravivarma was asked to initiate a recruitment plan for a degree program, “[h]e seemed to hesitate sending anything unless there was a brochure. I instructed him to write the letter ... to get a dialog started. He did acquire a mailing list for the Project Lead the Way teaching, but there was never any follow through in the form of an informational letter.” [Dkt. # 48, Ex. A, Attachment 9]. She also criticized his handling of the proposal to the Department of Higher Education, stating that although his portfolio suggests that he authored this document, in reality, he “gathered resumes of the faculty and did some basic assembly. The completion of the progress report was written by me.” [Id.]. Rajaravivarma submitted rebuttal letters to both Dr. Zanella’s minority report and Dr. Tracey’s negative evaluation. See [Dkt. # 48, Ex. A, Attachment 12-13]. On December 15, 2006, Dean Kremins reviewed all the materials available, including Rajaravivarma’s rebuttals as well as the original portfolio, and submitted a recommendation against tenure. [Dkt. # 48, Ex. A, Attachment 14]. In the recommendation, the Dean stated that “[previously, I indicated some weaknesses in my renewal letter with regard to [load credit activity] activity. This year, repeated negative comments indicate a pattern of deficiency in the practical aspect of the subject matter as well as some pedagogy concerns. Specifically, comments in Spring 2006 CET 249 and CET 449 evaluations (which are attached in the portfolio) raise the same concerns. I do not believe, overall, that the attached student evaluation statistics provide clear evidence of any progress compared with previous years.” [Id.]. He commented that “in applied engineering and technology programs, the contribution of the laboratory component is paramount to students’ ultimate success. Consequently, in my opinion, the overall evaluation of ‘load credit activity’ is that Dr. Rajaravivarma failed to meet the standard of quality.” [Id.]. For creative activity, the Dean noted that Rajaravivarma has published papers in various conferences. [Id.]. For grants, he indicated that Rajaravivarma had made “major efforts” but all his applications were unsuccessful. [M]. These factors lead the Dean to conclude that Rajaravivarma only met the “minimum standard of quality.” [M]. For productive service, he recognized that Rajaravivarma was a member of many department and university committees, but found that Rajaravivarma “has not provided expected program/lab leadership and initiative thus his service to the department has been lacking.” [Id.]. For professional activities, he recognized the various professional organizations and functions in that Rajaravivarma participates. [Id]. On March 1, 2007, the PTC submitted a unanimous recommendation to President Miller supporting a grant of tenure. [Dkt. #48, Ex A, Attachment 16]. The PTC memorandum contains no reasons for their decisions, only the vote tally for each candidate but did mention that upon request, reasoning would be given. [Id.]. The parties have not submitted any evidence that a request was made or that reasoning was provided by the PTC. On April 13, 2007, President Miller reviewed the application and issued a decision to deny tenure. In a letter dated April 13, 2007, Miller wrote Rajaravivarma to inform him that he was denied tenure. President Miller did not provide his reasons for denying tenure in this letter. [Dkt. # 48, Ex. A, Attachment 18]. It appears that Rajaravivarma then requested an explanation from President Miller pursuant to the terms of the CBA from CCSU’s Grievance & Contract Administration Committee. Shortly thereafter on April 30, 2007, President Miller issued a letter addressed to Rajaravivarma explaining his reasons for denying tenure. [Id.]. The April 30 letter stated that President Miller has “carefully reviewed the tenure recommendations of the Computer/Graphics Technology Department Evaluation Committee, the Dean of the School of Technology, and the Promotion and Tenure Committee. In addition, I have reviewed all submitted materials and recommendations and consulted with Dr. Carl Lovitt, Provost/Viee President for Academic Affairs. I have also reviewed a statement by the Department Chair.” [Id]. President Miller stated that “[a]fter my review of the materials you submitted, the documentation of the quality of activity is not sufficient to warrant the award of tenure.” He further explained that [i]n reviewing the materials you presented in the areas of load credit activity (4.11.9.1) and creative activity appropriate to one’s field (4.11.9.1), I have determined that your materials did not sufficiently demonstrate the standard of quality noted above and do not justify the selective award of tenure.” [Id.]. Lastly, President Miller indicated that his while his “assessment does not coincide with that of the overall vote of the DEC nor with the Promotion and Tenure Committee, it does coincide with the assessments of the DEC Chair, the Department Chair, the Dean, and the Provost.” [M]. President Miller has no contractual obligations to review tenure applications in a certain manner. [See Dkt. #42, Ex. E, Attachment 1, CBA]. In his deposition, he described how he generally reviews tenure applications. He explained that he “read[s] and review[s] the information and make[s] a professional judgment on the quality of that work.” He testified that “I read the actual substantive information before I look at any of the other recommendations. So I take out the — I look at the student evaluations. I read some in some cases, all in other cases, of the articles and publications submitted, where they were submitted to. I look at the quality of the sources in which they appeared. I look at their service assignments and what work they did, both professional to the community and to the university service.” [Dkt. #48, Ex. H, Deposition of Miller, 17:7-18:17], “On professional development” he testified that since that “tends to be pretty uniform” he at least “will glance over that.” [Id. at 18:17-18:19]. He further testified that “in the order starting with load credit in teaching and moving to the top — the top two big ones, load credit in teaching, and creative activity, I do a review. And in some cases I will say to myself, this is obviously upstanding work. In other cases I will say to myself, this is not so good. And then on the cases where I have some question, I will go back and maybe read some things again. And that’s where I start in detail with the reviews from the other levels.” [Id. at 18:19-19:3]. President Miller stated in his deposition that after “I’ve made some initial assessment. I haven’t finished the recommendation, but I’ve made some initial assessment. And then I go through — it doesn’t have to be done this way, this is just the way I do it. And then I go through and I look at the evaluations ... probably two-thirds of the ones that come in are very strong. So those I go and look, and almost inevitably — there are occasions, there have been occasions where I haven’t concurred with the assessment, but most often those concur.” [Id. at 19:3-19:16]. President Miller further testified that where his initial assessment does not concur with the other evaluations submitted and where the evaluations are “not so excellent, then I go in and I begin to look in some detail of what other people have assessed, and occasionally they will be — there will be things in their assessment — not just a decision which may be counter to mine or their recommendation might be counter to my recommendation, but there may also be specific pieces of information in there where I say, oh yeah, okay. I need to go back and re-look at that. So those evaluations help me in the continued examination before I develop my recommendation, as does the conversation with the provost.” [Id. at 19:17-20:12], President Miller also indicated that with respect to assessing student evaluations that “there are quantitative, the numerical evaluations. And yes, those tend to run high, but you look and see. Some departments will provide actual normative — I know I’ve called them before anchor points. They’ll say: In these courses the average student evaluation — because different courses sometimes have different evaluations. Maybe a graduate course tends to get, in certain departments, a higher evaluation than an introductory undergraduate, or in the opposite in some departments I support.” [Id. at 31:1— 31:11]. Miller then testified that he would “go and look at the qualitative side, the student written comments and the kinds of things they say. In some cases it’s pretty obvious that they aren’t many, and you can’t make too much of a judgment about that ... And in some, those are telling and in some they are not ... but you look at those comments.” [Id. at 31:11-32:12], Lastly, President Miller testified that “there’s the faculty member comments if they’ve done some observations in the classroom. There are — if the department chair-department chairs are the ones who end up seeing the students, getting direct feedback from the students because the students come in and say you, ‘this course is a mess’ or ‘this is the best course I ever had’ or those kinds of things. So department chairs tend to be probably one of the best sources for student input or a good source. Maybe not the best, but a good source of student input.” [Id. at 32:13-32:24]. President Miller was also asked in his deposition “what it was about [Rajaravivarma’s] load credit activities that caused you to believe that it didn’t meet the quality standards that you felt was necessary to be awarded tenure.” [Id. at 72:6-72:9]. In response he answered that “I think his load credit activity, his teaching was — -in my assessment of all of the information, was weak. Wasn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t good ... I don’t know what a good term would be. Mediocre. There were some positives, there were some negatives. He was generally viewed as a pretty nice guy, but not — in some classes he was viewed as doing a good job, in other classes they were uneven. The student comments weren’t terribly supportive. There weren’t many of them and there weren’t a lot of things about ‘this is an excellent class.’ There wasn’t a lot of support there.” [Id. at 72:13-72:24]. President Miller was also asked in his deposition if he “relied heavily on the characterizations of [Rajaravivarma’s] activities by the dean and Professor Zanella and Professor Tracey?” to which he responded “they were certainly a part of what I considered.” [Id. at 72:19-73:3]. President Miller was further questioned “so where the dean or Dr. Tracey or Dr. Zanella focused in terms of load credit activity, was that something that, as you’re reading both the portfolio and the comments, focused your attention on what might be problems in that area?” [Id. at 75:14-75:19]. President Miller responded No. I read all of these first. Before I looked at any of those ... I looked at the student evaluations. I looked at the vita and the papers presented. I read a few of the copies of publications. I glanced through, read some abstracts, other things like that. Then I went and — and so I started in with some kind of notion. And while I can’t recall exactly this process whatever it was, four, five years ago ... I always do the same way. So I would have gone through, I would have read them. I’m quite certain I would have said after looking at these and looking at the [student] evaluations, this isn’t real good. Now let’s go see — and other people obviously had different points of view. The DEC had a different point of view than the other three that are here. But it wasn’t them that focused me on that. I would have focused myself on that and then I would have gone and looked at what other people said about it. [Id. at 75:20-76:14], President Miller further explained that “[a]t some point in the review I reviewed all of this information. I will not say that I read every single individual sheet word for word, but when I go in and look in a review, in a summary and see some of the kinds of [student] evaluation that occurred where there were points of concern, or when I read later on a letter from the Dean that says ‘we have real problems with this class. We addressed this with him; it doesn’t seem to be improving; that kind of thing, I would go to that set and review every one of those. But I’m not saying that I linearly [reviewed].” [Id. at 77:6-77:17]. Once again Miller testified in his deposition that he would “probably not” have reviewed the DEC recommendation and the dean’s as a part of his initial review “[b]ecause I do the first reading, as I said, absent those. So even if part of them were there, I don’t think I would look at the — I think that’s after I’ve read them all.” [Id. at 101:2-101:9], President Miller was further asked in his deposition whether the inputs of the DEC majority-report, the DEC minority report, the chair of the department’s report and the dean’s reports were important in his decision-making process. President Miller responded that “[a]ll the information was important. All of the information he submitted was important; all of the information that was — so was the DEC’s report which was positive. The positive part of the DEC’s report, I guess would be the right way to put it. And the P & T vote. They were all important.” [Id. at 103:16-104:3]. Legal Standard Summary judgment should be granted “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R. Civ. P. 56(a). The moving party bears the burden of proving that no factual issues exist. Vivenzio v. City of Syracuse, 611 F.3d 98, 106 (2d Cir.2010). “In determining whether that burden has been met, the court is required to resolve all ambiguities and credit all factual inferences that could be drawn in favor of the party against whom summary judgment is sought.” Id., (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Matsushita Electric Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)). “If there is any evidence in the record that could reasonably support a jury’s verdict for the non-moving party, summary judgment must be denied.” Am. Home Assurance Co. v. Hapag Lloyd Container Linie, GmbH, 446 F.3d 313, 315-16 (2d Cir.2006) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). “A party opposing summary judgment cannot defeat the motion by relying on the allegations in his pleading, or on conclusory statements, or on mere assertions that affidavits supporting the motion are not credible. At the summary judgment stage of the proceeding, Plaintiffs are required to present admissible evidence in support of their allegations; allegations alone, without evidence to back them up, are not sufficient.” Welch-Rubin v. Sandals Corp., No. 3:03cv481, 2004 WL 2472280, at *1 (D.Conn. Oct. 20, 2004) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Analysis of Preliminary and Threshold Issues The complaint consists of a recitation of facts followed by cursory assertions of claims into which all the facts are incorporated by reference where or not each fact incorporated tends to establish an element of the claim. Consequently, the Defendant filed for summary judgment on bases which, while fairly inferred as being germane, are in fact not. The Court will first clarify the record by disposing of these issues. First, Defendants have moved for summary judgment on the basis that the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs Title VII claims against President Miller because President Miller is not an “employer” subject to Title VII liability. In Plaintiffs opposition to summary judgment, Plaintiff clarifies that he did not intend President Miller to be a Defendant in his Title VII claim and indicated that if necessary he would amend his complaint to eliminate any ambiguity. The Court therefore construes the complaint to allege a Title VII claim solely against CCSU, the Board and the State. Second, Defendants have argued they are entitled to summary judgment on Plaintiffs CFEPA claim because the Eleventh Amendment bars a claim against the State in federal court since the State has not consented to suit in federal court. In his opposition to summary judgment, Plaintiff indicated his consent to the entry of summary judgment on his CFEPA claims. The Court therefore grants summary judgment as to Plaintiffs CFEPA claims. Third, Defendants argue that they are entitled to summary judgment on Plaintiffs Title VII claims for failure to exhaust his administrative remedies by obtaining a right to sue letter. Plaintiff obtained a Right to Sue Notice dated October 28, 2009 which was after he commenced the instant lawsuit on September 29, 2009. The Supreme Court has held that “filing a timely charge of discrimination with the EEOC is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to suit in federal court, but a requirement that, like a statute of limitations, is subject to waiver, estoppel, and equitable tolling.” Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 393, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982). The Second Circuit has explained that “[ejvery circuit before us that has faced the question has held that a plaintiffs failure to obtain a notice-of-right-to-sue-letter is not a jurisdictional bar, but only a precondition to bringing a Title VII action that can be waived by the parties or the court.” Pietras v. Bd. of Fire Com’rs of Farmingville Fire Dist., 180 F.3d 468, 474 (2d Cir.1999) (citing Rivers v. Barberton Bd. of Educ., 143 F.3d 1029, 1031 (6th Cir.1998); McKinnon v. Kwong Wah Restaurant, 83 F.3d 498, 505 (1st Cir.1996); Gooding v. Warner-Lambert Co., 744 F.2d 354, 358 (3d Cir.1984)). Courts in this circuit have found that a “plaintiff who commences a Title VII action before receiving a right-to-sue letter may nonetheless maintain the action upon subsequent receipt of the letter.” Civil Serv. Employees Ass’n, Inc., Local 1000, AFSCME, AFL-CIO v. New York State Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Historic Pres., 689 F.Supp.2d 267, 276 (N.D.N.Y. 2010) (finding that “while this practice is discouraged,” the plaintiff subsequently obtained a right-to-sue letter which “cured the defect caused by its failure to receive notice of its right to sue prior to filing this action”); Blanke v. Rochester Telephone Corp., 36 F.Supp.2d 589, 592 n. 1 (W.D.N.Y.1999) (holding that although “[i]t [wa]s not clear why plaintiff apparently filed the complaint in this action prior to his receipt of the right-to-sue notice. Since issuance of a right-to-sue notice is not a jurisdictional requirement, however, the EEOC’s subsequent issuance of the notice satisfies the statutory requirements in this case.”). Plaintiff indicated the he obtained a release of jurisdiction from the CHRO on September 22, 2009. [Dkt. #48, Ex. B], On the same date, the Plaintiff also obtained a letter from the EEOC office in Boston, MA that confirmed it was forwarding his request for a right-to-sue letter from the Department of Justice (“DOJ”). [/&]. The right-to-sue letter from the DOJ was dated October 28, 2009, which is after the commencement of this lawsuit. Here, Plaintiff had confirmation that the DOJ was being notified of his request for a right-to-sue letter before the filing of the lawsuit. Though the Plaintiff did not receive the letter before filing the instant complaint, the defect was cured upon receipt of the letter, which was only about a week after the Defendants were served in the instant action and a month after the complaint was filed. Although the Defendants raised this issue as an affirmative defense in their answer, Defendants did not submit a motion to dismiss on this basis. Voluminous discovery has been undertaken and a substantive motion for summary judgment has been filed and before the Court. In light of these circumstances and the fact that the right to sue letter was subsequently obtained soon after the complaint was filed, the Court finds it appropriate to deem that this “precondition to bringing a Title VII action” has been waived. Fourth, Defendants argue they are entitled to judgment on Plaintiffs Title VII racial discrimination claim because Plaintiffs CHRO/ EEOC complaint failed to alleged discrimination based on race and instead only alleged discrimination based on religion, national origin, and ancestry. The Second Circuit has long held that “claims that were not asserted before the EEOC may be pursued in a subsequent federal court action if they are reasonably related to those that were filed with the agency. A claim is reasonably related if the conduct complained of would fall within the scope of the EEOC investigation which can reasonably be expected to grow out of the charge that was made.” Deravin, III v. Kerik, 335 F.3d 195, 200-201 (2d Cir. 2003) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). The Second Circuit has further recognized that “race and national origin discrimination claims may substantially overlap or even be indistinguishable depending on the specific facts of a case.” Deravin, 335 F.3d 195, 201-202 (2d Cir. 2003) (holding that “even in the absence of an express linkage between race and national origin, the specific facts alleged by a plaintiff in his or her EEOC complaint may suggest both forms of discrimination.”). Here, Plaintiffs claim for discrimination based on race is reasonably related to his claim for discrimination based on national origin and would have undeniably fallen within the scope of the EEOC / CHRO’s investigation. Therefore, Plaintiffs claim for discrimination based on race may be pursued in this subsequent federal court action. Fifth, Defendants argue they are entitled to judgment on Plaintiffs Title VII retaliation claim to the extent that it is based on the alleged retaliation for his own protected activity of speaking out at the faculty senate meeting regarding the discriminatory treatment of his wife. Defendants argue that Plaintiffs CHRO/EEOC complaint only alleged retaliation for his wife’s protected activity of filing a CHRO complaint and not for his own speech at the faculty senate meeting. Plaintiff argues that the cover sheet for his CHRO Affidavit of Discriminatory Practice, which he filed pro se, indicated that he believed he was retaliated against because he previously opposed discriminatory conduct and that he spoke about his own protected speech during the CHRO’s fact finding conferences. However the Court need not address whether the Plaintiff adequately alleged retaliation for his own protected activity in his CHRO/EEOC complaint because Plaintiffs claim for his own protected activity is reasonably related to his claim for his wife’s protected activity and therefore may be pursued in this subsequent federal action. Analysis of Title VII Discrimination Claim Title VII makes it unlawful for an employer to “fail or refuse to hire ... or otherwise to discriminate against any individual ... because of such individual’s race, color, [or] ... national origin.” 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(a)(l). Plaintiffs denial of tenure claim is analyzed under the three-step burden shifting framework established by McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). “Under this familiar framework, the plaintiff - must first establish a prima facie case of discrimination by showing that: (1) he is a member of a protected class; (2) he was qualified to be a tenured professor; (3) he suffered an adverse employment action in the denial of tenure; and (4) the circumstances give rise to an inference of discrimination. The defendant must then articulate a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the denial of tenure. Once the defendant has articulated such a reason, the presumption of discrimination disappears, and the question in reviewing a motion for summary judgment becomes whether the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, is sufficient to sustain a reasonable finding that the denial of tenure was motivated, at least in part, by discrimination.” Tori v. Marist Coll., 344 Fed.Appx. 697, 699 (2d Cir.2009). “The plaintiff must produce not simply some evidence, but sufficient evidence to support a rational finding that the legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons proffered by the defendant were false, and that more likely than not discrimination was the real reason for the employment action ... To get to the jury, it is not enough ... to disbelieve the employer; the factfinder must also believe the plaintiff’s explanation of intentional discrimination.” Weinstock v. Columbia University, 224 F.3d 33, 43 (2d Cir.2000) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted). The Second Circuit has emphasized that “Title VII does not require that the candidate whom a court considers most qualified for a particular reason be awarded that position; it requires only that the decision ... not be discriminatory.” Wharff v. State University of New York, 413 Fed.Appx. 406, 408 (2d Cir.2011). The “Second Circuit has noted repeatedly that tenure decisions involve unique factors which set them apart from ordinary employment decisions, and federal courts should exercise caution in reviewing them.” Grant v. Cornell Univ., 87 F.Supp.2d 153, 157 (N.D.N.Y.2000) (citing Fisher v. Vassar College, 70 F.3d 1420, 1434-35 (2d Cir.1995); Zahorik v. Cornell Univ., 729 F.2d 85, 92 (2d Cir.1984); Lieberman v. Gant, 630 F.2d 60, 64 (2d Cir. 1980)). Such caution is warranted by the Second Circuit’s concern that courts “ ‘should not substitute their judgment for that of the college with respect to the qualifications of faculty members for promotion and tenure. Determinations about such matters as teaching ability, research scholarship, and professional stature are subjective, and unless they can be shown to have been used as the mechanism to obscure discrimination, they must be left for evaluation by the professionals, particularly since they often involve inquiry into aspects of arcane scholarship beyond the competence of individual judges.’ ” Bickerstaff v. Vassar College, 196 F.3d 435, 456 n. 7 (2d Cir.1999) (quoting Kunda v. Muhlenberg College, 621 F.2d 532, 548 (3d Cir. 1980)). The Second Circuit has further emphasized that: When a decision to hire, promote, or grant tenure to one person rather than another is reasonably attributable to an honest even though partially subjective evaluation of their qualifications, no inference of discrimination can be drawn. Indeed, to infer discrimination from a comparison among candidates is to risk a serious infringement of first amendment values. A university’s prerogative to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach is an important part of our long tradition of academic freedom. Although academic freedom does not include the freedom to discriminate, this important freedom cannot be disregarded in determining the proper role of courts called upon to try allegations of discrimination by universities in teaching appointments. The Congress that brought educational institutions within the purview of Title VII could not have contemplated that the courts would sit as Super-Tenure Review Committee[s]. Lieberman, 630 F.2d 60 at 67 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted, alteration in original); see also Zahorik, 729 F.2d at 92 (noting that “the number of factors considered in tenure decisions is quite extensive. The particular needs of the department for specialties, the number of tenure positions available, and the desired mix of well known scholars and up- and-coming faculty all must be taken into account. The individual’s capacities are obviously critical. His or her teaching skills, intelligence, imagination, willingness to work, goals as a scholar and scholarly writing must be evaluated by departmental peers and outsiders asked to render advice. The evaluation does not take place in a vacuum, however, but of