01/23/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/23/2025 07:15
A big employment discrimination case is being heard in the Lone Star state's highest court this month, but not without help from a University of New Mexico law professor.
Professor Warigia Bowman, a native New Mexican, is part of the legal team representing Plaintiff Cheryl Butler in Butler v. Collins, currently in the Texas Supreme Court. The case, a certified question from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, concerns legal issues of employment discrimination in tenure denial and defamation under Texas common law.
According to Bowman, Butler was a tenure-track law professor at Southern Methodist University (SMU) who was denied tenure after her husband became ill during the 2014-2015 academic year. The school argued that Butler's husband was not sick or dying. Shortly after, Butler filed a lawsuit against the university in 2018.
"I think what is important about this case is professors on the tenure track are very vulnerable and don't have a lot of protection," said Bowman. "Of course, my client, Cheryl Butler, is an African American professor and there are few black female professors. There are not enough people of color in the academy, but tenured Black women represent an incredibly small number, particularly in the legal field."
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, black women constitute only 2% of tenured professors nationwide. Bowman says professors of all backgrounds drop out before they get to tenure because they don't want to deal with the stressful process and says there are even more hurdles for African Americans.
The legal question is whether a state statute, the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (TCHRA), preempts common law defamation under the Texas constitution. Note, common law defamation claims are when somebody says you did something you didn't do.
Bowman says her client brought statutory and common law defamation claims under the TCHRA, where Butler made it to the Fifth Circuit, the highest appellate court before you get to the Supreme Court at the federal level, appealing her district court decision.
According to Bowman, SMU Law refused to turn over Butler's tenure box during litigation, which Bowman says is highly unusual and makes it impossible to verify SMU's assertion that Butler was not qualified for tenure.
"I know this client, she's outstanding. The last time she published was in 2015 and she's still getting more citations than I am," Bowman said. "Her work is so meaningful and important, so for me, it's very emotional in the sense that this was a miscarriage of justice, and ironically right after this happened, SMU tenured their first African American professor."
Bowman, a former litigator with the U.S. Department of Justice and Clerk of the Texas Supreme Court, has taught at UNM's School of Law since the summer of 2024. Because of her background and knowledge of this specific court, she was brought in as Co-Counsel. Currently, Bowman teaches several courses at UNM, including administrative law, and she says this case is an example of that issue.
"One thing I love about UNM is how diverse and thoughtful our faculty is and how seriously they take issues of fairness and equity," Bowman said. "I think that's a real strength of UNM Law and I'm happy to work here partly because of that."
Bowman and the rest of Butler's legal team are waiting for the Texas Supreme Court to decide on the case. They hope the decision will be made in February. Then, it will go back to the Fifth Circuit where another decision will be made.
"I am optimistic we will prevail on some of the counts," she said. "This is going to be a landmark case, a landmark discrimination case nationally."