Full opinion text
JACOBS, Circuit Judge: Following a three week bench trial, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Motley, J.) found that Vassar College discriminated against plaintiff Cynthia J. Fisher in 1985 when it denied her tenure as a professor in its biology department (a) by reason of her sex together with her status as a married woman, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) and (b) by reason of her age, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”). The district court rejected, however, plaintiffs claim of “simple” sex discrimination based solely on her status as a woman. The district court further found and concluded that Vassar’s discrimination against Fisher violated provisions of the Equal Pay Act. Based on these findings, recorded in a detailed opinion, see Fisher v. Vassar College, 852 F.Supp. 1193 (S.D.N.Y.1994), the district court directed Vassar to pay an aggregate money judgment of $626,872.12 together with Fisher’s attorneys’ fees. The judgment also ordered that Fisher be restored to the Vassar faculty for a period of two years, after which time she again would be evaluated by the school for the purpose of determining whether she was qualified for promotion to full professor with tenure. Vassar challenges the findings relied on by the district court to support judgment against Vassar under Title VII, the ADEA and the Equal Pay Act, and seeks to vacate the district court’s award of attorneys’ fees. In a cross-appeal, Fisher argues that the district court erred in (1) finding that plaintiff had failed to prove a case of “simple” sex discrimination in violation of Title VII, and (2) failing to order her reinstatement with full tenure without further tenure-track service or further tenure evaluation. The trial focused on two issues: Fisher’s qualifications for tenure and Vassar’s history of tenure decisions involving candidates who were married women. As to her qualifications for tenure, Fisher sponsored testimony by several experts in the field of biology and voluminous documentation comparing her teaching and scholarly record to other Vassar biology professors who had been considered for tenure. As to Vassar’s treatment of married women candidates for tenure, Fisher presented (inter alia) numbers purporting to demonstrate that no married woman on the Vassar faculty had been granted tenure in the “hard” sciences in the three decades preceding plaintiff’s 1985 denial of tenure; the testimony of former Vassar biology professors relating the events of their careers at Vassar and expressing their belief that the Vassar biology department discriminated against married women; and the testimony of a sociologist, describing the discrimination generally experienced by married women in the sciences and opining that Vassar had discriminated against plaintiff. Finally, Fisher served as her own chief witness, recounting her experiences in the Vassar biology department and related anecdotes. Vassar defended on two fronts: Fisher’s lack of qualifications for a tenured professorship in Vassar’s biology department, and the absence of any record of discrimination by Vassar on the basis of sex or on the basis of sex conjoined with marital status. Most of the testimony offered by Vassar came from current and former Vassar biology professors and administrators, who described the procedures used in the Vassar tenure review process generally and the care with which Vassar proceeded in Fisher’s particular case. Defendant also sought to present its own data concerning Vassar’s school-wide record of promoting married women. The district court refused to admit these statistics into evidence. The district court’s opinion rejected plaintiffs claim of “simple” sex discrimination, but found that, as a married woman, plaintiff had established a claim of “sex plus” discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Equal Rights Act (“Title VII”). After a detailed critique of the department’s report recommending against tenure for Fisher, the district court concluded that the department’s assessment of her qualifications was biased and that plaintiff had met all the recognized requirements for tenure in the biology department: The court ... finds that the termination of plaintiffs employment resulted not from any inadequacy of her performance or qualifications or service, but from the pre-textual and bad faith evaluation by Vassar of her qualifications ... Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1218. In arriving at its conclusions, the court credited plaintiffs theory that Vassar had a practice of discriminating against married women employed in the “hard” sciences, took note of plaintiffs eight-year absence from her career to raise a family, and addressed the contentious issue of whether Title VII permits Vassar to weigh that fact against her in its tenure decision: At trial plaintiff presented evidence in support of her claim that she was discriminated against because of her marital status: 1) evidence distinguishing between departments in the “hard” sciences (including the Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Biology and Computer Science departments) and the departments in the rest of the College; 2) evidence that traditionally the “hard” sciences faculties have been composed of men (married and single) and women (single only); 3) evidence that although married women constituted 52 percent of the women in science nationally, no married women had ever received tenure in the “hard” sciences at Vassar. Plaintiff claims that it was her decision to be a wife, mother and a scientist before seeking tenure at Vassar that resulted in the denial of tenure application. Part of plaintiffs claim of sex discrimination due to her marital status involves the fact that plaintiff left formal academia for approximately eight years in order to raise a family. In 1965, when plaintiff left academia, marriage and family went hand in hand for women, especially for women of plaintiffs race and class. Prior to the 1970’s Women’s Movement and social advances that have permitted women more freedom in shaping their private and professional lives, women who were of plaintiffs race and class rarely had children out of wedlock. Likewise, women of plaintiffs race and class who were married almost always had children. In other words, raising a family was an assumed aspect of marriage. Subsequent to her parental leave, plaintiff returned to academia and spent nine years in academia before coming up for tenure. She claims that despite her qualifications and her progress in becoming current in her field, her absence from academia was held against her as an insurmountable barrier. Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1225-26 (footnotes omitted). The court also found in favor of Fisher on her claim of age discrimination in violation of the ADEA, and on her claim of salary discrimination in violation of the Equal Pay Act. The district court rejected plaintiffs claim for compensation based on Vassar’s alleged “retaliation” against her for the filing of this lawsuit. Following a thorough survey of the record, we reverse the liability judgment against Vassar because our conviction that a mistake has been committed is definite and firm. We further vacate the district court’s order and judgment of attorneys’ fees. We affirm, however, the district court’s conclusion that plaintiff had failed to establish a claim of “simple” sex discrimination. We do not reach Fisher’s cross-appeal concerning the terms of her reappointment to the Vassar faculty. BACKGROUND The Candidate’s Career. Cynthia J. Fisher was born in 1932. She was honored in the Westinghouse national science competition as a 17-year-old high school senior, and received a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin in 1955. She pursued graduate studies in zoology at Rutgers State University, earning a master’s degree in 1957 and a Ph.D in 1963, and stayed on at Rutgers for two more years doing post-doctoral work. Plaintiff married Armen G. Fisher on a date not specified in the record; they adopted the first of their two daughters in 1965 and the second in 1968. From 1966 through 1974, Fisher devoted the bulk of her energy to raising her children and did no work outside her home. The district court found that this eight-year break in plaintiffs career was “not a total hiatus”. Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1216. In her appellate brief, plaintiff claims that throughout this time she “kept in touch with her field by reading journals and keeping abreast of work in the field of biology.” Brief of Appellee at 3. In 1974 she took a part-time position at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and returned to teaching. Vassar hired Fisher as a visiting assistant professor in biology in 1977, at first on a part-time basis and eventually on a full-time basis. She remained at Vassar as an assistant professor and was offered a tenure-track position in 1980. In 1982, plaintiff was reappointed for a three year term with a promise of tenure review in 1985, notwithstanding a mixed departmental evaluation in which two of the then four senior members of the biology department concluded that plaintiff did “not meet the criterion of high quality teaching and barely meets the criterion of research promise”. Joint Exhibits (“JE”) at 197e. The Tenure Process. Tenure review at Vassar proceeds in several steps. First, the candidate’s credentials are presented to the department. After a review, the department forwards its recommendation to the dean of the college and to the college-wide Faculty Appointments and Salary Committee (the “Appointments Committee”). The dean and the Appointments Committee also receive input on the candidate’s scholarly achievement from outside evaluators. Based on this information, the dean and Appointments Committee make their recommendation to the president of the college who, in turn, submits a recommendation to the Board of Trustees. The candidate has the option of appealing a negative decision to the Faculty Appeals Committee. Vassar’s review of Fisher’s candidacy took place over the course of the 1984-85 academic year. Fisher submitted a proposed list of outside evaluators in October 1984. On March 29, 1985, the biology department issued a unanimous and unfavorable recommendation. JE at 216-229. The report evaluated plaintiffs qualifications in four categories that the department deemed relevant: scholarship, teaching, service and leadership, and concluded that Fisher failed to exhibit the required “outstanding quality” in any of the four areas. JE at 216. It therefore “recommend[ed] unanimously against promotion.” JE at 229. The Findings of the Tenure Report. The biology department’s report surveyed plaintiffs numerous publications and grant proposals, but found that plaintiffs record posed serious questions about her independence as a scholar, about the depth of her mastery of the field in which she is working, and about whether or not she is seriously engaged in an effort that will continue to be productive.... JE at 221. The report’s analysis of plaintiffs teaching ability included a review of her student evaluations, which (according to the report) reflected “consistent problems with clarity and her ability to illuminate difficult material” but were otherwise generally positive. JE at 223. The report further noted that plaintiff had a “poor” record in supervising independent research. JE at 225. Finally, the report voiced a “serious dissatisfaction [with plaintiffs] failure to introduce a 300-level course of her own design in an area of interest to herself.” JE at 225. The department was “unanimous in the firm belief that Ms. Fisher does not meet the criterion for high quality teaching at Vassar College.” JE at 226. The report briefly reviewed plaintiff’s service to the department and to the college as a member of the Safety Committee, as an ad-visor to majors in the department, and in helping secure various grants used to purchase additional equipment for the department. The report further noted that plaintiff had served the college-wide community as a member of the Academic Panel and the Library Committee as well as various other committees. Despite these contributions, the report concluded that “[ojverall [the department was] not satisfied by Ms. Fisher’s service to the department and feel that while her service to the college may be adequate it is in no way outstanding ... [and] not of sufficiently high quality for promotion.” JE at 227. Leadership was the final formal criterion discussed in the report. Here, the department found her to be “a great disappointment.” JE at 227. The report stated: We find no evidence of leadership in curricular matters either inside or outside of the department, and as best we can judge her interest is just not engaged by the subject. Part of Ms. Fisher’s problem seems to be that she has difficulty in establishing straightforward, open, trusting, collegial relationships with others in the department. Another part of the problem is that she just doesn’t often speak her mind on matters of departmental concern and thus falls short as an intellectually stimulating colleague and contributor to departmental policy-making. Her deferential attitude has been a continuing source of frustration. We also find that we cannot imagine her assuming the responsibilities of the department chairmanship. This is something we believe every tenured member of the department ought to be able to do. Neither do we feel we could nominate her to serve on major faculty committees of the College. None of us would recommend her as director of our introductory biology course. JE at 227. As to Fisher’s area of expertise — developmental biology — the Report concluded that her work did not fill a departmental need: [She] offers to our curriculum little that is unique. Her areas of expertise are already to be found in the tenured ranks of the department. Ms. Fisher’s failure to introduce a[n] advanced level course of her own design exacerbates the situation. In effect she has failed to make a unique curricular contribution and to carve out her own niche as every other member of our faculty has done. JE at 228. The review of the candidate’s educational and professional history discusses her hiatus from academia: Ms. Fisher began her scientific career in the usual way and with an acceptable, though not outstanding record of publication. However, beginning in 1965, at the end of her postdoctoral studies, she devoted, by her own report, nine years (1965-1974) entirely to her family and to her personal life. As far as we can tell from materials submitted by her, Ms. Fisher attended no meetings, belonged to no societies, and ceased all communication with colleagues in the scientific community. JE at 217. The report was signed by the five then-tenured members of the Vassar biology department, three men and two women. Plaintiff was told of the department’s recommendation by department chairman Leathern Mehaffey in a 12-minute meeting on March 29, 1985. In keeping with Vassar policy, the report was confidential and plaintiff did not actually read it until she obtained it through discovery in this lawsuit. Consideration of the Report. Dean H. Patrick Sullivan met with members of the Appointments Committee on April 19, 1985 to exchange their initial reactions to the biology department report. According to notes taken at that meeting, two of the Committee’s five members expressed an inclination to vote against tenure, one was in favor and two expressed no view. Dean Sullivan voted tentatively against tenure. JE at 290, Transcript (“T”) at 2104-05. Dean Sullivan and the Committee met with Vassar’s president on April 30, 1985. Again, two Committee members and the dean voted against tenure, one member voted in favor, and two abstained. According to Dean Sullivan’s notes of the meeting, the president made an observation concerning “overkill on dept’s part”. JE at 290. Later, the district court held up this observation as a “virtual smoking gun” evidencing the college’s policy of discrimination. Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1229. On May 3, 1985, the Appointments Committee and Dean Sullivan met with the senior members of the biology department to discuss Fisher’s departmental recommendation, the outside evaluations and student comments. Notes taken at that meeting by one Committee member attributed to the biology department the view that “she is out of date — out of field for 10 years”. JE at 288. This statement too was later cited by the district court as evidence of the college’s discrimination. The evaluations offered by the three outside scholars and considered at this meeting were markedly more positive than the departmental appraisal. For example, a professor at the University of Washington praised plaintiffs scholarly work: I have never been provided with so much information about a candidate for promotion, nor have I completed a review with as much appreciation for the value of the candidate as a teacher, scientist and scholar, leader and human being as I have gained in reading the information about Dr. Cynthia Fisher. Her enthusiasm, dedication and energy for her profession comes through all of her carefully and articulately written documents. Letter of Karen A. Holbrook to H. Patrick Sullivan, March 5,1985, JE at 277. See also Letter of Dennis R. Roop to Patrick Sullivan, April 18, 1985, JE at 280; Letter of Paul F. Goetinck to H. Patrick Sullivan, March 13, 1985, JE at 282. After this meeting, the biology department twice sent letters to Dean Sullivan and other participants in the tenure review process. The letters reaffirmed the department’s negative recommendation, and accused Fisher of distorting her record during the tenure review process. In the letter dated May 6, 1985, the department commented: We were and continue to be deeply disturbed by the fragmentary information revealed to us during the meeting from documents supplied by Ms. Fisher to you. We hope that we were able to convince you that much of that material was self-serving, distorted, and inaccurate. Now that distortions have been revealed in those documents you discussed with us, we hope you will allow us to assist you in evaluating any other information that you may have before it is accepted for fact and used in your decisions. JE at 233. At a final meeting on May 16,1985, all five members of the Appointments Committee voted against tenure, as did Dean Sullivan and the president of the college. Acting upon this recommendation, the Vassar Board of Trustees denied Fisher tenure. Two other candidates in the biology department were up for tenure in the same round of evaluations; one man (Edward Tucker) was denied tenure, and one woman (Pinina Norrod) achieved it. Fisher appealed to the Faculty Appeals Committee, which in due course rejected her challenge; she then lodged a complaint with Vassar’s affirmative action officer, asserting that she was a victim of discrimination against married women. On July 26, 1985, Fisher filed a claim of discrimination with the New York Division of Human Rights. In this claim, plaintiff charged Vassar “with denying me equal terms, conditions, and privileges of employment and dismissing me because of my age, sex, and marital status, which is a violation of the New York State Human Rights Law.” Supplemental Joint Appendix at 1. Plaintiff left Vassar at the conclusion of her contract in May 1986. Aftermath and Litigation. Fisher was subsequently hired by Bard College in a halftime position as adjunct faculty. Bard did not renew her contract, leading Fisher to believe that she had been blacklisted by Vassar because she had by then commenced this lawsuit. T. at 951-52. In the fall of 1988, she began study toward a Master’s degree at Adelphi University’s School of Social Work. She graduated in May 1991, passed her State Certification Examination in June of that year, and was soon employed as a social worker at the Poughkeepsie Continuing Treatment Center at a salary of approximately $29,900 a year. During her final year at Vassar, plaintiff had earned $27,000. Fisher filed her complaint in the Southern District of New York on July 7,1987 and the matter proceeded to trial in June and July of 1993, with the results outlined earlier in this opinion. A June 30, 1994 amendment to the May 16, 1994 opinion spelled out the remedies. In addition to $626,872.12 in damages, plus an award of attorneys’ fees, the district court ordered Fisher restored to the faculty of the Vassar Biology Department for a period of two years, commencing with the Fall Term of 1994, to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure, at a salary equal to the average salary of an Associate Professor in the Biology Department at Vassar.... At the end of the two year period, Plaintiff shall be evaluated by Defendant for retention and promotion to the Full Professorship track. Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1235. The court further amended its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law to address — and reject— broader injunctive relief: The court finds that the policy of discriminating against married women at Vassar College has changed and, presently, married women are hired and retained in the hard sciences departments. However, this policy change occurred after 1986, the year Plaintiff was denied tenure and after she filed her complaint with the New York State Human Rights Commission. Injunc-tive relief as to the policy under attack here is, therefore, not warranted at this time. Id. The district court retained jurisdiction over the case in order to ensure compliance with its rulings. Id. Vassar filed its notice of appeal on July 18, 1994 and Fisher filed her notice of cross-appeal on July 29, 1994. On September 28, 1994, the parties entered into a stipulation fixing attorneys’ fees at a total of $392,205.75. On November 4, 1994, Vassar filed a separate notice of appeal concerning the attorneys’ fees. By stipulation of the parties, the appeal concerning attorneys’ fees was consolidated with Vassar’s main appeal and Fisher’s cross-appeal. Although Vassar secured a stay of the money judgment and the attorneys’ fee award pending proceedings in this Court, Vassar sought no stay of the portion of the judgment ordering Fisher’s reinstatement as an associate professor. Plaintiff returned to Vassar on September 1, 1994. The college built her a new laboratory and furnished her with an assistant. She spent a portion of the 1994-95 academic year abroad in Grenoble at the University of Joseph Fournier. She is scheduled to return to teaching at Vassar in the fall of 1995. On appeal, Vassar ascribes clear error to the fact finding on which the district court predicated liability under Title VII, the ADEA and the Equal Pay Act. DISCUSSION Page A. Title VII Claims 1432 1. The McDonnell Douglas test 1432 2. “Sex Plus” Discrimination 1433 (a) Pretextual Decision-Making 1434 (i) Scholarship 1435 (ii) Teaching 1435 (iii) Service 1436 (iv) Leadership 1436 (v) Summary 1437 (b) Discrimination in Fact 1438 (i) Anecdotal Evidence 1438 (ii) Party Admissions 1440 (iii) Statistics 1442 a. Classifying “Hard Sciences” 1444 b. Anecdotes as Statistics 1444 c. School-Wide Tenure Decisions 1445 d. Women Granted Tenure in the “Hard” Sciences 1446 e. Sex to Sex Comparison 1446 f. Marital Status and Parent Status 1447 (iv) Expert Testimony 1447 3. Discrimination Based on Parenthood or Nurture 1448 4. “Simple” Sex Discrimination 1448 B. Age Discrimination Claim 1449 1. Amendment of the Complaint 1449 2. Merits 1449 C. Equal Pay Act Claim 1451 1. Amendment of the Complaint 1451 2. Statute of Limitations 1452 3. Merits 1452 D. Attorneys’ Fees 1453 A. Title VII Claims. 1. The McDonnell Douglas test. Title VII provides in pertinent part: (1) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer— (1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.... 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2. At the outset, let us make clear what this case is not. Contrary to the district court’s conclusion, see Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1229-31, this is not a “mixed-motive” case falling under Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 109 S.Ct. 1775, 104 L.Ed.2d 268 (1989), as modified by the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Had there been direct evidence that Vassar had denied Fisher tenure because she was a married woman, it might have been appropriate to require Vassar to prove that it would have denied Fisher tenure even if it had not considered Fisher’s marital status. See Price Waterhouse, 490 U.S. at 244-45, 109 S.Ct. at 1787-88 (plurality opinion); id. at 259-60, 109 S.Ct. at 1795-96 (White, J., concurring); Ostrowski v. At lantic Mut. Ins. Cos., 968 F.2d 171, 181-83 (2d Cir.1992). But there was no such evidence, as we shall see. Moreover, this is not a disparate impact case falling under Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio, 490 U.S. 642, 109 S.Ct. 2115, 104 L.Ed.2d 733 (1989), as modified by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k). Fisher did not mount a disparate impact challenge to Vassar’s tenure criteria. See Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1226 n. 15. Thus, Fisher’s only chance of prevailing on her Title VII claim was by using the three-tiered burden-shifting framework enunciated in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). In McDonnell Douglas, the Supreme Court devised a three-tiered burden-shifting framework for applying § 2000e-2. First, the plaintiff is required to present a prima facie case of discrimination which must include allegations (1) that the plaintiff is a member of a protected class, (2) that the plaintiff applied for and was qualified for a job for which the employer was seeking applicants, (3) that despite these qualifications, the employer rejected the plaintiff and (4) that, after this rejection, the job remained open and the employer continued to seek applicants having the plaintiffs qualifications. Id. at 802, 93 S.Ct. at 1824. If the plaintiff presents a prima facie case, the burden shifts to the employer, who is required to demonstrate “some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” for the decision. Id. The employer’s burden here is one of production of evidence rather than one of persuasion. Texas Dep’t of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). The defendant need only articulate-but need not prove-the existence of a non-discriminatory reason. Id. at 254-56, 101 S.Ct. at 1094-95. If the defendant carries this burden of production, the plaintiff then assumes the burden to “show that [the employer’s] stated reason for [the plaintiffs] rejection was in fact pretext.” McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 804, 93 S.Ct. at 1825. “The ultimate burden of persuading the trier of fact that the defendant intentionally discriminated against the plaintiff remains at all times with the plaintiff.” Burdine, 450 U.S. at 253, 101 S.Ct. at 1093. In St. Mary’s Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, - U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993), the Supreme Court held that, as to the third prong of the McDonnell Douglas test, it is not enough for a plaintiff to show that the defendant’s legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its employment decision is pretextual; the plaintiff must also prove by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant’s stated reason is “a pretext for discrimination.” St. Mary’s, - U.S. at -, 113 S.Ct. at 2752 (emphasis added). The plaintiff must establish “both that the reason was false, and that discrimination was the real reason.” Id. (emphasis in original). 2. “Sex Plus” Discrimination. The basis of the discrimination alleged by Fisher under § 2000e-2 is her sex conjoined with her marital status. The Supreme Court has adopted the proposition that sex considered in conjunction with a second characteristic-“sex plus”-can delineate a “protected group” and can therefore serve as the basis for a Title VII suit. See Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp., 400 U.S. 542, 91 S.Ct. 496, 27 L.Ed.2d 613 (1971). The defendant in Phillips refused to hire women with pre-school-aged children while hiring men who (viewed from the employer’s perspective) had the same problem. In that case, there was no serious question of any general bias against hiring women; the district court had found that 75 to 80 percent of those hired for the position were women. Nevertheless, the Court held that “permitting one hiring policy for women and another for men-each having pre-school-age children”-violated Title VII. Id. at 544, 91 S.Ct. at 498. See also Newport News Shipbldg. & Dry Dock Co. v. EEOC, 462 U.S. 669, 103 S.Ct. 2622, 77 L.Ed.2d 89 (1983) (sex plus pregnancy); United Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls, 499 U.S. 187, 111 S.Ct. 1196, 113 L.Ed.2d 158 (1991) (sex plus fertility); Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 109 S.Ct. 1775, 104 L.Ed.2d 268 (1989) (sex plus gender stereotypes). Some courts have specifically accepted the viability of a Title VII claim premised on sex plus marital status. See Bryant v. Interna tional Schs. Servs., Inc., 675 F.2d 562, 573 n. 18 (3d Cir.1982); Sprogis v. United Air Lines, Inc., 444 F.2d 1194, 1197-98 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 991, 92 S.Ct. 536, 30 L.Ed.2d 543 (1971); 29 C.F.R. § 1604.4 (discrimination against married women). As a matter of pleading, Fisher satisfied the threshold test of McDonnell Douglas by alleging discrimination against women. In any event, Vassar has not put in issue the sufficiency of plaintiffs prima facie case. However, we note that marital status is not necessarily a bipolar distinction between people who are married and people who are not. The facts of this case entail other categories (e.g., divorced, engaged, seriously involved, never married, etc.) that may become the object of supposed bias; as these splintered categories come into play, marital status may become an unmanageable factor for sex-discrimination analysis. As to the second prong of the McDonnell Douglas test, Vassar has sustained its burden by relying upon the 14-page recommendation of the biology department. The report offered a “legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” for dismissing plaintiff-her lack of scholarship, teaching ability, service and leadership. Regardless of Vassar’s record in promoting women, married or otherwise, the school was under no obligation to promote Fisher if she was not qualified for tenure. Because Vassar has satisfied its step-two burden of production, the burden of persuasion shifts back to plaintiff. The Title VII component of this appeal therefore chiefly concerns the third prong of the McDonnell Douglas test, the plaintiffs burden to demonstrate (a) that the College’s explanation for denial of tenure was false and pretextual and (b) that the real reason for denial was discrimination based on either sex or sex plus marriage. See St. Mary’s, - U.S. at-, 113 S.Ct. at 2752. In reviewing the district court’s decision on these issues, we acknowledge that the district court’s findings of fact should be disturbed only if they are clearly erroneous within the meaning of Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). See Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 573, 576, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1512-13, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985); Sumner v. U.S. Postal Serv., 899 F.2d 203, 208 (2d Cir.1990). We will not “upset a district court’s determination simply because we would have reached a different conclusion had we considered the matter in the first instance.” United States v. Juvenile Male # 1, 47 F.3d 68, 71 (2d Cir.1995). Rather, we will “disturb such findings only when we are left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” Cosgrove v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 9 F.3d 1033, 1038 (2d Cir.1993) (citations and internal quotations omitted). On at least some of the material issues addressed by the district court, we are left that definite and firm conviction. (a) Pretextual Decision-Making. After a thoroughgoing analysis of the Biology Department’s 14-page evaluation of Fisher, the district court concluded that “the termination of plaintiffs employment resulted not from any inadequacy of her performance or qualifications or service, but from the pretextual and bad faith evaluation by Vassar of her qualifications.... ” Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1218. On appeal, Vassar contends that the district court paid insufficient deference to the academic standards and values employed in the process that led to the denial of tenure in this case. Vassar cites Lieberman v. Gant, 630 F.2d 60 (2d Cir.1980), for the proposition that district courts should refrain from “infer[ring] discrimination from a comparison among candidates .... ” Id. at 67. The Lieberman court voiced wise caution that the nation’s universities and the federal courts might be heavily burdened if “the many adverse tenure decisions against women or members of a minority group that must be made each year [were] regularly taken to court____” Id. at 62 n. 1. The court noted: 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].” Id. at 67 (citations and internal quotations omitted, alteration in original). Nevertheless, as the district court observed, Title VII applies to the academic community. As originally enacted, Title VII did exempt from scrutiny the faculty employment practices of educational institutions, but the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972 eliminated that exemption specifically. See Powell v. Syracuse Univ., 580 F.2d 1150, 1154 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 984, 99 S.Ct. 576, 58 L.Ed.2d 656 (1978). Congress has, therefore, given federal courts the unsought task of examining the sometimes surprising ways in which colleges and universities award tenure. See Zahorik v. Cornell Univ., 729 F.2d 85, 93 (2d Cir.1984) (“Tenure decisions are not exempt under Title VII ... ”). According to Vassar, Lieberman stands for the proposition that comparative proof, measuring successful candidates against those rejected for tenure, is inadmissible in a Title VII case. That view was specifically rejected by this court in Gibson v. American Broadcasting Cos., 892 F.2d 1128, 1133 (2d Cir.1989): “In light of the strong remedial purposes expressed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1972 Amendments to Title VII ... we could hardly hold that relevant proof was inadmissible.” Therefore, it was appropriate for the district court to consider plaintiffs record and to compare it with the records of other Vassar professors. The district court found that Vassar’s tenure review of Fisher was conducted using standards that were unclear and unspecified. Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1227. However, since it is difficult to conceive of tenure standards that would be objective and quantifiable, the district court properly undertook to examine the enumerated criteria used by Vassar, however intuitive they may be, in order to detect their use as pretext. At the end of that examination, the district court found that the department’s evaluation of Fisher was disingenuous in each category: (i) Scholarship. The district court concluded: “Based on the foregoing testimony and evidence, the court finds that [the biology department’s] conclusions concerning Dr. Fisher’s scholarship were made in bad faith, were pretextual, and represented the application of patently discriminatory standards.” Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1209. As an example of the department’s bad faith, the district court cited the department’s criticism of plaintiffs productivity during the sabbatical year she took before coming up for tenure review. The department claimed that she had spent little time in the laboratory, thereby raising concerns “about the choices she made in respect to how to spend her leave year.” JE at 221. In fact, as the district court points out, Fisher spent nine months out of her sabbatical year in a laboratory during which time she “collaborated with four different groups, submitted eight grant proposals, six of which ... were funded, published one manuscript, wrote one other, served as a consultant to both the [National Science Foundation] and the [National Institute of Health] and presented papers at national and international meetings.” Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1205. (ii) Teaching. The district court found that the biology department had distorted Fisher’s teaching recommendations by “selectively excluding] favorable ratings”, by “focus[ing] on the two courses in which Dr. Fisher had difficulties” and by “applying different standards to her than were applied to other tenure candidates”. Id. at 1209. Further, the district court observed that “the males tenured while Dr. Fisher was on the faculty were praised for their fine teaching while Dr. Fisher was criticized, although the facts on which the Committee’s determinations were based (student evaluations, Biology Majors Reports and [Student Advisory Committee] reports) revealed that Dr. Fisher’s evaluations were superior to theirs.” Id. at 1211. (iii) Service. The district court did not undertake to compare Fisher’s service in the academic community to the service rendered by others similarly situated, nor was the district court required to conduct a comparison of things so amorphous. Instead, after examining the Vassar Governance (the College’s basic policy document), the district court found that service was not a significant factor in the tenure review process, Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1213, a finding that we accept. However, the district court’s finding of pretext on this issue is unsubstantiated and conclusory: It is additionally significant that early evaluations by the Department of Dr. Fisher’s service to the College and the Department were glowing____ The only explanation for the change in attitude towards Dr. Fisher that the court can find is the discrimination manifested in its decisions concerning her culminating in its decision in 1985 not to promote her. Id. at 1213. (iv) Leadership. The Biology Department found plaintiffs leadership skills to be “a great disappointment”. JE at 227. The district court reviewed the National Science Foundation’s favorable reviews of the plaintiff as well as two previous evaluations from the biology department, and concluded that “Dr. Fisher’s collegiality, personal relationships, and service to the College and to its students were more than satisfactory and that the opinions given contrary to this finding by the Biology Department were pretextual.” Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1214. This finding is unsustainable. The biology department’s previous reviews of Fisher had been far from uniformly glowing. The department’s split 1982 recommendation concerning Fisher’s reappointment stated: [S]he seldom takes an active part in discussion of issues in departmental meetings. Some of us believe that she is tentative about taking a position on issues and prefers not to commit herself openly. This represents a manifestation of her personality which may be viewed as a danger signal in respect to how she fulfills her collegial responsibilities. JE at 197d. Notwithstanding her previous favorable reviews, by the time she came before the department for tenure consideration in 1985 the senior members of the biology department had concluded that she lacked the requisite leadership qualities: Part of Ms. Fisher’s problem seems to be that she has difficulty in establishing straightforward, open, trusting, collegial relationships with others in the department. Another part of the problem is that she just doesn’t often speak her mind on matters of departmental concern and thus falls short as an intellectually stimulating colleague and contributor to departmental policy-making. Her deferential attitude has been a continuing source of frustration. JE at 227. Certainly her colleagues were in the best position to judge her “collegiality [and] personal relationships”. The leadership section of the report makes clear that the senior members of the biology department simply did not like Fisher and did not wish to establish a career-long professional association with her. It is arguable that such grounds alone justified the department’s recommendation against tenure. Nevertheless, neither “collegiality” nor any essentially social characteristic is listed in the Vassar Governance as a controlling aspect of tenure review. Therefore, even if the district court’s analysis of plaintiffs leadership qualifications was clearly erroneous, the court’s overall conclusions regarding the overall assessment of the department report still survives appellate review. (v) Summary. The district court found that the biology department tenure report on the plaintiff was pretextual. We conclude that this finding is based on sufficient evidence presented to the court. Certainly, the portion of the district court’s opinion that surveys the department’s report does not provoke “the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” See Cosgrove, 9 F.3d at 1038 (internal quotations and citations omitted). We recognize that in some situations [t]he factfinder’s disbelief of the reasons put forward by the defendant (particularly if disbelief is accompanied by a suspicion of mendacity) may, together with the elements of the prima facie ease, suffice to show intentional discrimination. Thus, rejection of the defendant’s proffered reasons[ ] will permit the trier of fact to infer the ultimate fact of intentional discrimination .... St Mary’s, - U.S. at -, 113 S.Ct. at 2749 (emphasis in original). See also EEOC v. Ethan Allen, Inc., 44 F.3d 116, 120 (2d Cir.1994); DeMarco v. Holy Cross High Sch., 4 F.3d 166, 170 (2d Cir.1993). Nevertheless, while this passage makes clear that “some cases exist where a prima facie case and the disbelief of a pretext could provide a strong enough inference of actual discrimination to permit the fact-finder to find for the plaintiff[,].... we do not think that the Supreme Court meant to say that such a finding would always be permissible.” Woods v. Friction Materials, Inc., 30 F.3d 255, 261 n. 3 (1st Cir.1994) (emphasis in original); see also United States v. Redondo-Lemos, 27 F.3d 439, 442 (9th Cir.1994) (Kozinski, J.); cf. Woroski v. Nashua Corp., 31 F.3d 105, 109-10 (2d Cir.1994). On these facts, the district court’s finding that Vassar’s “use of the tenure standards and process” was pretextual, Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1228, could not itself support a judgment for Fisher. It bears emphasis that the district court did not find Vassar hable simply because it disbelieved Vassar’s proffered reasons for denying Fisher tenure. See id. (“Not only has plaintiff proven by a preponderance of the credible evidence that defendant’s legitimate non-discriminatory reason ... is pretextual, plaintiff has also proven that defendant’s reason is a pretext for discrimination.”) (emphasis added). Rather, the district court felt compelled to comb the record for evidence of discrimination, evidently convinced, as are we, that the finding of pretext here did not alone justify a finding of discrimination. See id. at 1228-29 (Vassar’s unfair application of its tenure standards, together with statistical and anecdotal evidence, adduced to prove that Vassar had intentionally discriminated against Fisher). After all, “the ultimate burden of proof remainfed] at all times with [Fisher] to demonstrate that illegal discrimination actually motivated” Vassar’s decision to deny her tenure. Yellow Freight Sys., Inc. v. Reich, 38 F.3d 76, 85 (2d Cir.1994); see Woroski v. Nashua Corp., 31 F.3d 105, 108 (2d Cir.1994) (once employer articulates a non-discriminatory reason, “the plaintiff has the burden of proving that his age was the real reason for the discharge.”). And an employer may offer a pretextual reason for a personnel decision that is nonetheless nondiscriminatory, and the factfinder may review the record to determine the real reason for the personnel decision. See St. Mary’s, - U.S. at -, 113 S.Ct. at 2755-56. Doubtless, there are cases in which discriminatory intent is the only probable reason for the employer’s proffer of a pretextual reason to the court. See, e.g., Binder v. Long Island Lighting Co., 57 F.3d 193, 200 (2d Cir.1995). Not so here. The finding of pretext affirmed in this opinion points nowhere, as the district court’s own opinion suggests. See Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1228-29. Therefore, our ruling on pretext does not require as a corollary that we affirm the ultimate finding of discrimination. See St. Mary’s, - U.S. at-, 113 S.Ct. at 2754 (“It is not enough ... to disbelieve the employer; the factfinder must believe the plaintiffs explanation of intentional discrimination.”); Saulpaugh v. Monroe Community Hosp., 4 F.3d 134, 142 (2d Cir.1993) (“[A] Title VII plaintiff does not necessarily meet [her] burden of persuasion by convincing the factfinder that the employer’s non-discriminatory explanation is not credible; rather the trier of fact must find that the plaintiff has proven [her] explanation of discriminatory intent by a fair preponderance of the evidence.”), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 1189, 127 L.Ed.2d 539 (1994). Rather, we must review the record to see if the district court’s ultimate finding of discrimination was clearly erroneous. See St. Mary’s, — U.S. at -, 113 S.Ct. at 2756 (“That the employer’s proffered reason is unpersuasive, or even obviously contrived, does not necessarily establish that the plaintiffs proffered reason of race is correct. That remains a question for the factfinder to answer,” subject to the clearly erroneous standard of appellate review.); id. at -, 113 S.Ct. at 2749 n. 4 (“Even though ... rejection of the defendant’s proffered reasons is enough at law to sustain a finding of discrimination, there must be a finding of discrimination.”) (emphasis added). (b) Discrimination in Fact. In arriving at the conclusion that Vassar discriminated against married women, the district court relied on four categories of evidence: anecdotes; perceived admissions made by Vassar officials participating in plaintiffs tenure review; statistics; and expert testimony. We review below the evidence cited by the district court in its opinion as well as other evidence offered by plaintiff at trial. (i) Anecdotal Evidence. The district court relied upon the experiences of Karen Friedman and Marlene Palmer, two unhappy former members of the Vassar biology department. Friedman and Palmer joined Vassar in 1977 along with plaintiff and had spouses during some part of their employment at Vassar. Neither was ever considered for tenure. Friedman testified that she was married when she first came to Vassar and that the senior members of the biology department ignored her. She divorced while at Vassar and noticed that she was subsequently “included in social invitations” by various senior members of the biology department. T. at 1255. Several months after her divorce, Friedman began to date again. She soon “expressed some frustration at the limited pool of available men at Vassar College and expressed a desire to find [a] lasting relationship, and in fact to remarry at some point----” T. at 1256. The invitations to social functions from the senior members of the biology department then “declined and stopped entirely.” T. at 1256. After Friedman was denied reappointment, she met with Ed Tokay, the acting chairman of the biology department. According to Friedman’s testimony at trial, Tokay told her that she had been denied reappointment, in part, because “there is an unspoken agenda” — which he did not define — at biology department deliberations. T. at 1345. Finally, Friedman testified that, before being considered for reappointment, she was asked to take a leave of absence without pay in order to engage in further research. She stated that her male colleagues were not asked to take similar leaves. Despite her compliance with this request (which ultimately amounted to two years’ absence), she was denied reappointment. According to the district court, “[e]videnee adduced from Dr. Karen Friedman indicated that there was a policy of discouraging married women who were hired in the sciences as assistant professors from advancing to tenure.” Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1215. This conclusion is unsupportable. Nothing in the testimony of Friedman indicates that Vassar discriminated against married women. It is not remarkable that members of the academic community took special pains to offer her social invitations in the months after her divorce, or that these efforts trailed off when she began to date and became otherwise socially occupied. Friedman’s conversation with Tokay, while cryptic, cannot be said to evidence a policy of the college or the department to discriminate on the basis of marital status, or indeed to discriminate on any basis. The “unspoken agenda” remains unknown. Finally, testimony offered by Friedman on cross-examination suggests that her leave was voluntary and undertaken in order to allow her to engage in further research before contract renewal. T. at 1349-50. Ultimately, the biology department recommended against Friedman’s reappointment because the department found her research record to be weak. At the time she was denied reappointment, she was single. The second anecdote relied upon by the district court concerned Dr. Marlene Palmer. As stated above, Palmer joined the Vassar biology department with the plaintiff in 1977. She left after failing to secure reappointment in 1983. Palmer did not testify at the trial; her account came into evidence by way of a letter written by Palmer to the Vassar Faculty Appeals Committee in November 1985 in support of plaintiffs appeal of her denial of tenure. The letter, which was read into the record during trial, stated in part: S) Discrimination against Married Women: Just prior to the 1979-80 school year, I married a man with 8 children, and attitudes toward me in the department (especially that of [Professors] Pat Johnson and Marci Greenwood) took a severe turn for the worse. This marriage made no difference in my work; nevertheless, the line of reasoning seemed to be that married men are stable and responsible but married women (especially those with children) will not give their all to the job. In fact, [Professor] Anita Zorzoli remarked to someone at my wedding that she predicted I would now retire to be a housewife and mother and give up science entirely. Aside from this comment, I can recall nothing specific that was said to me. However, my sense of being discriminated against on this basis was so strong that, when I discovered that I was pregnant in 1981, I voluntarily and secretly had an abortion. I knew they would terminate me at the next contract renewal if I had the baby. I thought I might have a chance if I did not have the baby. Letter from Marlene (Palmer) Hutt to Janet Knapp, November 20, 1985, at 2, JE at 555. This letter was never offered to prove the matters asserted; it was admitted into evidence by stipulation to show that the college received notice of these accusations and failed nevertheless to conduct a formal investigation. The district court, however, cited this letter — and specifically noted the story of the compelled abortion — to support findings of discrimination. Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1215. Admissibility aside, Palmer’s vaporous account does not support the weight placed on it by the district court. Palmer’s “sense of being discriminated against” is not evidence. The fact that this unsubstantiated “sense” alone caused her to have a (apparently no longer) “secret” abortion is sad but hardly significant. The statements offered by Palmer and Friedman thus do not amount to evidence of discrimination based on marital status. In her brief on appeal, plaintiff cites three other examples of “direct” evidence of discrimination involving herself and various single women who either were or at one time had been professors in the Vassar biology department. None of the women, however, played any official role in plaintiffs tenure review. First, plaintiff testified to her conversation in a parking lot in 1979 with Professor Sue Lumb: I said, Sue, do I have to be the security blanket around here forever? And she said, oh, well, if we didn’t promote those nice young men, they wouldn’t stay. T. at 55. Plaintiff defined a “security blanket” for the benefit of the court: A security blanket is a person who, in the academic world, is a person who hangs around when needed. If they need someone to teach a course part time, to be— teach one semester and then another, they’re always there to fill in. And it’s a term used particularly when talking about sex discrimination where women who are geographically trapped in an area who cannot move to get a better job are often used as, quote, security blankets, unquote, to fill in as needed. But not to be given rank and position or permanency. T. at 56-57. The second incident occurred while plaintiff was lunching with professor Anita Zorzo-li, who was at the time on an unpaid leave with total disability: I again said I was a little tired of being the security blanket around here. And ■without a second’s hesitation she said, but, my dear, you have your children. And I said, what relevance does that have to my performance as a biologist? Well, she said, there was a 10-year hiatus in your career. Actually, it was only eight, but she made it 10. I said, am I punished for having children and taking care of my family? And she said, well, my dear, there is always part-time work for you. And I said, Anita, how would you feel if 30 years ago you were given a part-time job with your credentials? And again, without a second’s hesitation she reported to me, she said, well, you and I are not in the same class. I did all this research when nobody did research at Vassar, etc. etc. T. at 66-67. The final incident involved retired biology professor Margaret Wright: I asked her, what do you have to do to belong around here, Margaret? And she said, well, I didn’t think you’d really want a full-time position because you have your family. To which I responded, what do you think I’m working so hard for, a part-time position? And that was the end of that conversation. T. at 69. It is remarkable that, in each of these three incidents, the (arguably) discriminatory characterizations were made by plaintiff. She described herself as a security blanket. She suggested she was being punished for having children. She suggested that she did not “belong.” None of the incidents add up to evidence that Vassar had a policy of discriminating against married women. Even under plaintiffs own definition of “security blanket,” that term does not apply solely to married women. Although the comments attributed to Zorzoli are patronizing and tinged with stereotypes, Zorzoli by that time had already begun her disability leave and played no role in the department’s decision making process. Finally, although Wright reportedly made an impertinent assumption, she did not indicate that Wright (let alone Vassar) would disqualify plaintiff from a full-time position simply because she had a family. The district court opinion, which nowhere relies on these three conversations, properly discounts this type of evidence in the context of the ADEA claim. In commenting on another statement made by Professor Lumb the court noted: Dr. Lumb’s statement ... is not attributable to the Tenure Committee’s decision making process since she was not a member. This statement could be attributed to the sentiment of the Department but on its own does not meet plaintiffs burden. Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1231 n. 25. Neither professors Zorzoli nor Wright were at all involved in plaintiffs tenure review. In sum, none of the anecdotal evidence offered by plaintiff supports a finding that Vassar had a general policy of discriminating against married women or that Vassar discriminated against plaintiff on the basis of her sex conjoined with her marital status. (ii) Party Admissions. The record shows no link between plaintiffs marital status and the decision to deny her tenure. The district court pointed generally to a “persistent fixation of the Biology Department’s senior faculty on a married woman’s pre-Vassar family choices____” Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1216. The court cites a handful of invalid examples of what it deems to be this “persistent fixation”. One example is drawn from the text of the biology department’s report: [Beginning in 1965, at the end of her postdoctoral studies, she devoted, by her own report, nine years (1965-1974) entirely to her family and to her personal life. As far as we can tell from materials submitted by her, Ms. Fisher attended no meetings, belonged to no societies, and ceased all communication with colleagues in the scientific community. JE at 217. The district court also cites notes taken during the May 3 meeting of the Appointments Committee. According to these notes, the department represented to the Committee that Fisher was “out of date — out of field for 10 years.” JE at 288. The district court found that these notations evidence the department’s acceptance of a stereotype and bias: that a married woman with an active and ongoing family life cannot be a productive scientist and, therefore, is not one despite much evidence to the contrary. Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1216. The disputed passage of the department report appears in an account of plaintiffs pre-Vassar career. It overstates by one year her withdrawal from academic life, but some reference to this period is to be expected if the readers of the report were to understand why her teaching career started years after the end of her post-doctoral training. The district court read into this tenure-relevant statement an unstated assumption that family life is incompatible with scientific pursuits. This jaundiced reading places a strain on the text, and erroneously assumes that family commitments naturally compel complete withdrawal from the scientific community. Similarly, the note made at the May 8 meeting of the Appointments Committee— that she had been “out of field for 10 years” — overstates the length of plaintiffs hiatus, but is no more than an acknowledgment of an uneontested fact: plaintiff did spend a long period of time away from academia and biology. Indeed, the district court opinion later recasts its initial interpretation of the “out of field” statement; a footnote offers the following non-discriminatory explanation for this statement: “The court interprets the Department’s statement to the [Appointments Committee] ... as an attempt to convey that she was not up to speed in educational requirements and/or research techniques____” Fisher, 852 F.Supp. at 1231 n. 25. We accept this interpretation, and conclude that the notation does not contribute to an inference of bias. The district court further relied upon the trial testimony of professor Leath-ern Mehaffey: Q: Did you join in the thought that her being ten years away from active involvement in biological research represented a huge gap in her knowledge that was presently relevant to her being on tenure track? A: Yes, I think I did. May I explain a little bit? Q: Certainly. A: Largely because the field moves very quickly. Any fie