JEAN JEW JUSTICE COMMITTEE
Scope and Contents
The Jean Jew Justice Committee records date from 1982 to 1999 and measure 5 linear inches. About half of the records are newspaper clippings.
The Asa Black materials detail an earlier dispute about faculty promotions within the anatomy department involving some of the same people and same issues that arose during Jew's case. The committee roster file includes a list of over three hundred committee members and supporters within the University and in the Iowa City community.
The correspondence includes letters between the committee and various administrators, most notably Provost Peter Nathan and President Hunter Rawlings, and a letter from Jew which updated the committee about her interactions with administrators in the wake of the U.S. District Court judgment and subsequent settlement in November 1990. The press releases in this folder were written and distributed by the JJJC to raise public awareness about the case.
The binder materials were compiled by the Council on the Status of Women. These include a timeline of events, newspaper clippings, court records, related correspondence, and images of sexually suggestive “graffiti” about Jean Jew that appeared in the anatomy department’s hallways and men’s room. The binders include the University of Iowa’s report on its investigation, a statement issued to faculty in the department of anatomy, and letters to Robert Tomanek and William Kaelber, professors in the anatomy department who were found to have engaged in sexual harassment and contributed to the creation of a hostile work environment.
The court records consist of three documents. The first is an application for fees filed by Jew's attorney Carolyn Chalmers, which argues that the University should pay Jew's legal fees of nearly one million dollars. Disagreement on this point was one of the main reasons the University decided to appeal the decision. The second document is the defendants' proposed finding of facts. This document (often referred to as a brief) was prepared by Thomas Miller, Iowa's attorney general, who represented the defendants: the University of Iowa and the Board of Regents; it presents the facts of the case from the University's point of view. The third document is the memorandum of opinion issued by Judge Vietor in which he finds the University guilty. Judge Vietor reached this conclusion by applying the legal definition of sexual harassment established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Meritor Savings Bank v Vinson in 1986 and using a five part test established by the Eighth Circuit in Hall v Gus Construction Co. in 1988. Judge Vietor ordered the university to take several measures to compensate Jew for past wrongs, including a retroactive promotion to full professor, back pay, and "all reasonable steps to assure a hostility-free work environment."
The newspaper clippings chronicle the Jean Jew case from 1984 to 1991, and provide an overview of the local, regional, and national coverage of the case and its aftermath. Clippings from October 1999 demonstrate that the turmoil in the anatomy department had not yet subsided.
A t-shirt with the inscription "International Coalition for Academic Freedom and Gender Justice, Iowa Campaign: First Stage, 1983-1990" completes the collection.
Dates
- Creation: 1982-1999
Creator
- From the Collection: Jean Jew Justice Committee (University of Iowa) (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
The records are open for research.
Extent
From the Collection: 9.5 linear inches
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Repository Details
Part of the Iowa Women's Archives Repository
100 Main Library
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5068
319-335-5900 (Fax)
lib-women@uiowa.edu