One year ago, professor Steven Albrechtsen of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater sued the school for discrimination and walked away $293,840 richer. A subsequent ruling lowered the total to $143,840. Now, a federal appeals court reversed the jury?s verdict, awarding Albrechtsen the $143,840, and rendered all awards null.

In 2000, Albrechtsen sued Whitewater in federal district court, saying the university?s health, physical education, recreation and coaching departments had discriminated against him on the basis of his sexual orientation. Albrechtsen said he was denied a merit raise and was not allowed to teach two summer courses. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Albrechtsen charged that ?lesbians? running his department had discriminated against him because he is heterosexual.

In the 7th circuit panel?s verdict, Judge Frank Easterbrook said the only complaint in the record was one filed in 1997 and addressed to ?H. Greenhill,? the chancellor of Whitewater at the time. The complaint talked about retaliation, but nowhere did it mention sex or gender.

Specifically, Albrechtsen is suing the university after being denied a pay raise and for discrimination after his department head asked him for a current resume. He denied giving them the resume, asserting the department should know his qualifications.

The ruling indicated a resume was not the only paperwork Albrechtsen refused to submit.

?A new department chair asked faculty members to submit student evaluations for use in the merit-pay process,? the ruling stated. ?Albrechtsen refused to do this, and the chair responded by withholding any merit pay increase. The new chair asked Albrechtsen for a current curriculum vitae so that she could assess whether his knowledge encompassed the subjects he proposed to teach; again Albrechtsen refused, and again the chair followed Albrechtsen?s ?no? with a ?no? of her own.?

Albrechtsen was granted a pay raise in 1998, but he said the pay raise was the result of pressure he put on the university in a written complaint.

The 7th circuit?s ruling said in order to find the university guilty of discrimination, Albrechtsen had to establish that ?he complained about sex discrimination,? that ?the persons who made the decisions in 1998 knew about those complaints? and that ?the adverse actions in 1998 occurred because of the complaints.? In reference to the last requirement, ?if Albrechtsen has not complained, and all else had remained the same, he would have received a raise and been allowed to teach the workshops.?

Whitewater chancellor Jack Miller issued a statement concerning the ruling.

?At no point in time did the university ever believe that any discriminatory or retaliatory action occurred,? Miller said. ?We are happy about the decision but at the same time feel sad that this happened in the first place.?