The Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination (MCAD) recently upheld a ruling in favor of LAF-supported plaintiff Lulu Sun in her gender and race discrimination case against the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. In June 2011 an MCAD hearing officer concluded that the university had violated Massachusetts’ anti-discrimination laws and ordered the university to 1) promote Sun, with retroactive pay back; 2) pay $200,000 in emotional distress damages, plus 12 percent interest from the date the complaint was filed; 3) pay the commonwealth of Massachusetts a $10,000 civil penalty; and 4) conduct an anti-discrimination training for its human resources staff, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the provost, and the chancellor.

After the June 2011 decision, the university promoted Sun to the position of full professor but appealed the emotional distress award, the civil penalty, and the anti-discriminatory training requirements to the full commission. In its most recent ruling the commission upheld the MCAD hearing officer’s decision, ordering the university to pay the emotional distress damage award and civil penalty and to conduct anti-discrimination training.

The University may still appeal so the case is not over.