She has taught acting for two decades, but now theater professor Mara Sabinson is playing a different kind of role -- plaintiff in a lawsuit that raises serious charges of harassment and discrimination against College administrators.
Sabinson, 59, a tenured associate professor, is suing Dartmouth for alleged age, sexual and religious discrimination, as well as breach of contract. She claims administrators unfairly asked her to resign from her position and then demoted her to teaching mainly first-year seminars when she refused.
Sabinson, who has previously served as chair of the theater department, directed plays, and instructed beginning, intermediate and advanced acting classes, is currently teaching a first-year seminar and another class called "Acting for the Camera."
The lawsuit claims her assignment for this year was changed after she refused to resign for two years of severance pay, and takes strong exception to her assignment to first-year seminars. She claims her new teaching schedule has been designed to encourage her resignation.
"Ms. Sabinson is not an expository writer and cannot competently teach First-Year Writing Seminars," states the reply memo filed by Sabinson's lawyer K. William Clauson in New Hampshire federal court. "Her grant of tenure was based on her expertise in directing and teaching acting."
In a pre-trial motion, the court denied Sabinson's request to make Dartmouth reinstate her original course schedule for this academic year, which included beginning and intermediate acting classes, but Clauson estimates the matter will not come to an actual trial for about a year.
In advancing the claims of discrimination, the lawsuit alleges that theater professor Margaret Spicer told Sabinson, who is Jewish, to "go to California and find yourself a nice Rabbi."
The suit also alleges Sabinson was targeted because she offended the "young, male and Christian" demographic.
The original lawsuit and reply memo, provided by Clauson, also include several other allegations.
First among these, the suit claims that Provost Barry Scherr, Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt, and Associate Dean of Humanities Lenore Grenoble, then chairing the theater department, asked Clauson to resign because of "cultural differences" with the department in a June 2005 meeting. Sabinson had been told the meeting was to "discuss teaching issues."
Secondly, in the meeting, Sabinson was treated in an "unpleasant and professionally degrading manner."
In addition, Sabinson complained that professors hired to replace her in the department were not appointed according to College policy.
Theater department chair Peter Hackett hired his wife, professor Carol Dunne, to replace Sabinson in intermediate acting, and former professor Carol MacVey to take her other roles.
In what the memo termed a "campaign of harassment," Grenoble took over the theater department and Spicer became vice-chair while Sabinson was on sabbatical in the 2002-03 academic year. They eliminated her advanced acting course and directing, excluded her from department business, and did not give her a raise that year.
Lastly, Sabinson complained that she has received smaller-than-normal raises since then.
Sabinson said she plans to continue teaching through the "ongoing" lawusuit process, but all was quiet at Sabinson's office and first-year seminar classroom Monday.
Reached by phone at her home in Cornish, N.H., Sabinson said she cancelled class because the roads were "impassible" due to snow. She planned to be in class on Tuesday.
Sabinson, who began teaching at Dartmouth in 1984 after spending time as an actress, chose not to comment on many issues regarding the lawsuit. But when asked why people should believe her side of the story, she said: "Because I don't lie. I am an honest person."
Numerous administrators and theater professors refused to comment on the lawsuit on Monday. However, lawyer Robert Donin said in an official statement that the College is "disappointed" at Sabinson's decision to sue.
"Dartmouth is strongly committed to diversity and did not discriminate against Professor Sabinson or violate any of her rights as a faculty member," Donin wrote.
