Penn found at fault in gender bias lawsuit

A federal jury found Tuesday that Penn engaged in sexual discrimination in 1997 when athletic department officials passed over a qualified male applicant for the women's crew head coaching job.

The University was ordered to pay Andrew Medcalf $72,000 in lost wages, $18,000 for emotional distress and $25,000 in punitive damages.

Medcalf applied for the head coaching position after serving for six years as assistant coach of the men's crew team. He claimed he was not hired -- and not even interviewed -- because the athletic department wanted to hire a woman.

"The jury understood that Mr. Medcalf was plainly the most qualified candidate for the position," said Lawrence Woehrle, Medcalf's attorney. "By awarding punitive damages, they concurred that it was outrageous for Penn to engineer the hiring process so that only women were interviewed."

Woehrle said that the court had instructed the jury to award punitive damages only if "Penn's behavior was outrageous or was done with malice."

Penn spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman said that the University was "greatly disappointed with the verdict" and has plans to appeal.

"We feel we picked the most qualified person, and we will stand by our choice," Holtzman said.

Woehrle said the jury "reached a unanimous decision, so I expect to prevail in any appeal."

The coaching position was filled by Barbara Kirch, who had been the head coach of the women's crew team at Dartmouth College for nine years and head coach of the U.S. junior women's national team since 1996. Kirch had twice been a member of the U.S. Olympic rowing team.

Medcalf had experience as the head rowing coach at both the University of Rochester and the University of London when he applied. Woehrle said that London's program "was one of the premier collegiate rowing programs in the world at the time."

Medcalf continued in his position as assistant coach of men's crew for two years after the top women's coaching position was filled.

"Mr. Medcalf was always loyal to Penn," Woehrle said, who described the case as "unusual."

"Rarely do you have so many persons who can testify with firsthand knowledge of the defendants' discriminatory intent," Woehrle said.

Medcalf, 50, is now a stockbroker for Legg Mason in Philadelphia.

Woehrle said the court heard statements from four different people testifying the University's "intention to hire a woman no matter what." Three of those were students who had been involved in the rowing program, and the fourth was Stanley Bergman, the director of Penn's rowing program. Bergman had recommended Medcalf for the position.

In 1999, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also ruled against the hiring process that Penn followed. However, its determination was not presented before the federal court.

Woehrle said that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had found that University officials "took extraordinary measures to recruit only female candidates," making the federal jury "the second group of people who have looked at this case independently and concluded that Penn intentionally discriminated against Mr. Medcalf."

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