Iowa Women's Archives
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa

BRINE, PELTON AND THOMPSON
V. THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

RECORDS, 1985-1996
10.25 linear feet and artifacts

Collection Overview

History

The Board of Regents approved the development of a Dental Hygiene Program at the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) in 1949; the first class of twenty-four students launched the program in 1953. Students spent two years in this early program and received a certificate in dental hygiene from the College of Dentistry. Students who wanted a bachelor’s degree in addition to their certificate could earn a bachelor of arts or science degree with a general science major from the College of Liberal Arts. In 1964, a master of science degree program was started for dental hygiene students. After 1967 all program graduates received the bachelor’s degree from the College of Liberal Arts. The Board of Regents approved a dental hygiene major in 1969, allowing students to receive a bachelor of science degree in dental hygiene from the College of Liberal Arts. By 1992 the Dental Hygiene Program was the only bachelor’s degree program in dental hygiene in Iowa, and one of only six masters programs in dental hygiene in the United States.

In 1986, budget cuts in the College of Dentistry resulted in the loss of some full-time faculty in the Department of Dental Hygiene. In the fall of 1991, an ad hoc committee was formed to review the Dental Hygiene Program. The committee made a unanimous decision to recommend closure of the program; that same month the Iowa State Board of Regents voted to cut the program. The decision was made with the goal of trimming funds from the University budget over four years. Dental Hygiene faculty members were notified that they would be reassigned to other positions within the College of Dentistry.

In response to this decision, three tenured dental hygiene faculty members, Elizabeth Pelton, Nancy Thompson, and Pauline Brine, filed suit against the University claiming that the scheduled closing discriminated against the all-female program. They also contended that after they spoke out about the closing they were subject to retaliation in the form of demeaning treatment and salary raises below the average of the College of Dentistry. The plaintiffs asked for the continuation of the program and compensation.

In April 1995, the Brine, Pelton, and Thompson v. The University of Iowa and Board of Regents case was tried in federal district court in Des Moines, Iowa, before Chief Magistrate Judge Celeste Bremer. The defense declared that the charges of gender bias were unfounded, that the program no longer fit the University’s central mission, and that the declining enrollment combined with a pressing need to cut costs, justified the proposed closing. Judge Bremer ruled that the University of Iowa and State Board of Regents were not motivated by gender bias in deciding to close the program; however, the University had retaliated against the professors and denied them their First Amendment rights. The jury awarded plaintiffs Brine, Pelton, and Thompson $227,000 in attorney fees and a total of $214,000 for unfair retaliation for speaking out. As compensation each professor was awarded $65,000 for emotional distress, between $4,000 and $7,800 for lost wages, and for the violation of their constitutional right to free speech $1 each. The jury was not given the option to rule on the status of the program.

The ruling was appealed by the University and overturned by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Brine, Pelton, and Thompson then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the case was not heard. Judge Bremer upheld the University’s decision to close the program. The final class graduated from the University of Iowa’s Dental Hygiene Program in May 1995.

Scope and Content Note

The Brine, Pelton, and Thompson v. The University of Iowa records date from 1985 to 1996 and measure 10.25 linear feet. The records are arranged in nine series: Formal documents, Trial transcripts, Defendant exhibits, Unidentified exhibits, Plaintiff exhibits, Appeal documents, Background information, Letters of support, and Newspaper clippings.

The Formal Documents series (1991-1995) consists of testimony and reports collected during the formal review process of the Dental Hygiene Program. Included are the initial legal complaint, briefs, and depositions that the plaintiffs used to begin their lawsuit against the University of Iowa and the Board of Regents.

A record of the trial is located in the Trial Transcripts series (1995); evidence used by both the defendants and plaintiffs is included in the Defendant Exhibits, Unidentified Exhibits, and Plaintiff Exhibits series; and the appeal process in both Circuit and the United States Supreme Court are documented in the Appeal Documents series (1995-1996).

The Background Information series (1985-1995)consists of articles, reports, correspondence, and financial records collected by the plaintiffs to document discriminatory acts, and to demonstrate the academic validity and need for the program to be in a university research setting. Correspondence and administrative papers exchanged during and after the program closure complete the series.

The Letters of Support series (1991-1995) is composed of correspondence from alumni, community and university members encouraging the plaintiffs both before and during the trial, and letters of condolence after the verdicts. Petitions and letters asking supporters to contact university officials are included in this series.

Local and national coverage of the lawsuit are documented in the Newspaper Clippings series (1991-1996), in addition to articles pertaining to gender equality and discrimination.

The University of Iowa Dental Hygiene Program records.

Summary Content List

Appeal Documents, 1995-1996( Boxes 19-20)

Background Information, 1985-1995 (Boxes 20-24, 27)

Defendant Exhibits, 1995 ( Boxes 6-10)

Formal Documents, 1991-1995 ( Boxes 1-3)

Letters of Support, 1991-1995 (Boxes 25-26)

Newspaper Clippings, 1991-1996 ( Box 26)

Plaintiff Exhibits, 1995 ( Boxes 11-19, 27)

Trial Transcripts, 1995 ( Boxes 3-6)

Unidentified Exhibits, 1995 ( Boxes 10-11)

Box List

Box 1

FORMAL DOCUMENTS

Chronology of events in recommending closure History of Dental Hygiene Program Ad Hoc Committee

Correspondence, 1991 Testimony, 1991 Dental Hygiene response to Ad Hoc Committee Report, 1991 Report, 1991

Strategic Planning Steering Group, 1989-1991 Internal memos, 1991 Women United Against the Cuts fact sheet, 1991 External Review Committee

Curriculum vitas Correspondence, 1991-1992 Report to the Board of Regents and responses, 1992 Proceedings, March 1992 [5 audiocassettes (AC1048-AC1052) shelved in audiocassette collection]

Board of Regents

Pauline Brine testimony, 1991 O’Brien brief, 1992 Decision, April 1992 [audiocassette (AC1053) shelved in audiocassette collection]

Box 2

Discussion and decision, 1992

Iowa Civil Rights Commission- Official Complaint and Right to Sue, 1992-1995 Discovery: Plaintiff

Depositions

Nancy N. Thompson, 1995 Pauline Brine, 1993-1994 Elizabeth Pelton, 1993 Gary G. Rhoades, 1995

Responses and resistances, 1995

Box 3

Requests, 1994-1995

Defendant: Discovery

Depositions

James H. McLeran, 1993 Peter E. Nathan, 1993

Interrogatories, 1993 Responses and resistances, 1995

Legal briefs

Related to summary judgment, 1993-1994 Related to the trial, 1994-1995 (3 folders)

TRIAL TRANSCRIPTS (1995)

Volume I

Box 4

Volumes II - V (4 folders)

Box 5

Volumes VI - IX (4 folders)

Box 6

Volumes X - XII (3 folders )

DEFENDANT EXHIBITS

Exhibit index Exhibits 1 – 24 (24 folders)

Box 7

Exhibits 25 – 40 (16 folders)

Box 8

Exhibits 40 – 94 (55 folders)

Box 9

Exhibits 95 – 128 (34 folders)

Box 10

Exhibits 129 – 144 (16 folders)

UNIDENTIFIED EXHIBITS

Exhibits 51, 107 – 117 (10 folders)

Box 11

Exhibits 117B – 122R (30 folders)

PLAINTIFF EXHIBITS

Exhibits 1002 – 1039 (19 folders)

Box 12

Exhibits 1040 – 1104 (87 folders)

Box 13

Exhibits 1105.1 – 1227 (72 folders)

Box 14

Exhibits 1229 – 1260.8 (33 folders)

Box 15

Exhibits 1260.9 – 1322.9 (115 folders) Exhibits 1290- t-shirt [ Box 27]

Box 16

Exhibits 1322.10 – 1497 (85 folders)

Box 17

Exhibits 1498 – 1604 (98 folders)

Box 18

Exhibits 1605 – 1692 (6 folders)

Box 19

Exhibits 1693 – 1713.2 (27 folders)

APPEAL DOCUMENTS

Table of contents, 1995 Appeal: petition for a Writ of Certiorari, 1996 Order and judgment, 1996 Documents (16 folders)

Box 20

Documents (19 folders)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Business necessity argument

Budget and strategic plan, 1991 College of Dentistry: percent of the budget allocated for Dental hygiene Dental hygiene cost and benefit Budget cut alternatives Financial exigency argument Uneven application of the argument Iowa Board of Regents

Study of program duplication, 1989

Box 21

Organizational audit, 1989 Faculty workload study

University of Iowa, 1989 Framework report, 1989

Box 22

The Book- evidence compiled by Dental Hygiene faculty Community college programs Damages Demand

Dental Hygiene enrollment data A profile of students enrolled at the University of Iowa, 1985-1992

Dental Hygiene in universities

Teaching vs. research Need for university based programs Value of dental hygiene

Dental hygiene vs. dentistry

Adversarial relationship Occupational conflict American Dental Association resolution Private practice vs. self regulation Societal need for dental hygiene programs

Box 23

Discrimination

Academic, professional, employment inequity At health care work sites Athletic programs Bias against female dominated program In general T-shirt: Top 10 Reasons to Keep Dental Hygiene at Iowa (Plaintiff exhibit #1290 [in Box 27] Discrimination resources Marginalization In academia (2 folders) Ruling in Jean Jew v. U. of Iowa, 1990

Diversity

Box 24

Lack of due process Quality of publications and grants (2 folders) Closure: phase out period

Letters to alums Letter to interested applicants Affirmative action Integration or cooperation Discrimination and retaliation Faculty disposition "Lessons from the Dispossessed," 1992 Phase out process

Closure: post-closure

Discrimination Patient referral Letter to Vice President Manasse: stating continued retaliatory and discriminatory conduct, 1995 Dental hygiene accounts Legislative initiatives to reinstate Dental Hygiene Program

Box 25

LETTERS OF SUPPORT

Administrator’s responses to letters of support, 1991 Letters seeking support

Targeting groups, 1991 Targeting individuals, 1991, 1993

Agencies and schools, 1991 Alumni, 1991-1995 (4 folders) Alumni parents, 1991 Dental hygiene educators and ADHA leaders, 1991-1992, 1995

Box 26

Dentists, 1991-1992 (2 folders) Non-UI alumni dental hygiene practitioners, 1991-1992 Patients and citizens, 1991-1992, 1995 University of Iowa Feminists, 1991

NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, 1991-1996

Access Cedar Rapids Gazette Daily Iowan Des Moines Register Iowa City Press Citizen Miscellaneous sources Post-closure, 1995-1996 Scrapbooks, 1995 Originals, 1991-1995

Box 27

ARTIFACTS

Plaintiff exhibit # 1290, Top 10 Reasons to Keep Dental Hygiene at Iowa Plaintiff team: Ad Hoc or Odd Hawk???

 

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