The former assistant director of Career Services at the Amos Tuck School of business has filed a lawsuit against the College, claiming she was fired for refusing to falsify the job placement data used in national rankings, such as the survey published by U.S. News and World Report.
The complaint, filed by attorneys Charles Douglas and Susannah Robinson on behalf of Alice McCarty Baxter, demands $500,000 in compensation.
The College is still responding to the complaint, which was filed on Dec. 15 in the United States District Court in Concord, College Spokesman Roland Adams said.
The complaint claims that Baxter's supervisor, Director of Career Planning and Placement Priscilla Geer, asked her to manipulate statistics about the number of students who received job placement to increase Tuck's ranking in surveys conducted by national magazines.
Tuck ranked sixth in U.S News's 1995 survey.
In a Jan. 8 letter to the Tuck Community, Dean of the Tuck School Paul Danos rejected the charges filed on behalf of Baxter and said the alleged events took place before he arrived at Tuck.
"Nothing even close to what Ms. Baxter alleges has happened since I have been here, and I have seen nothing to make me believe that we have been anything less than scrupulously honest in the past," Danos wrote.
Adams said he does not believe the complaint will adversely affect Tuck's reputation.
"This is part of a growing wave of baseless litigation that effects even the most scrupulous institutions," he said. "It is very easy to file a lawsuit."
Adams said the dispute arose out of a disagreement between Baxter and Geer over how to cite information on a "preliminary internal report" and that no information was ever falsified.
"The argument is not really about an ethical dilemma," Adams said. "It is about an asterisk or a label on a preliminary internal report. Even Ms. Baxter does not claim anyone at Tuck falsified data."
Adams said the data Baxter alleges was manipulated was an internal compiling of information provided by students as they finalized their job searches during the winter and spring.
"She [Baxter] complains of an argument with an experienced supervisor because she could not accept the notion that at a school as small as Tuck it is acceptable to report job placements based on reliable firsthand results," Adams said. "The supervisor personally knew the people involved."
He said this information is not provided to national publications and is not circulated outside of Tuck.
"The data reported to national publications are compiled and forwarded to those national publications in the fall, several months after graduation when final data is available," Adams said.
Executive Officer of Tuck Mado McDonald, who assisted in hiring Baxter, said, "These are totally erroneous charges. She was never fired."
Baxter began working at Tuck as associate director of career planning and placement in January 1994, Adams said.
In April, shortly after the argument over the internal report, Geer, after consulting with Human Resources, suggested Baxter resign because "it was difficult if not impossible for them to work together," Adams said.
Baxter disregarded Geer's recommendation and retained her job until the end of June when, according to the complaint, she was forced to take sick leave due to "emotional suffering" from her job which "manifested itself in physical symptoms, including headaches, severe stomach problems, sleeplessness and anxiety and depression."
The complaint states that during this sick leave, "Tuck terminated Alice from her position."
But Adams said Baxter went on short term disability for six months, during which time Tuck kept her position open.
After six months on short term disability, in compliance with College policy, she was placed on an unpaid leave of absence for six months while she applied for long term disability benefits, Adams said.
She was unable to qualify for long term disability, and her leave of absence expired on July 5, 1995, he said.
Adams said that in compliance with College policy, Dartmouth kept Baxter's job open for six months before advertising for a replacement.
"She was free to return but chose not to" Adams said. "The position was not even advertised contrary her complaint: that advertisement was for a different position entirely, and both positions continue to exist and are filled."
"Alice has been unable to find comparable employment and has had her career path shattered by Tuck," according to the complaint.
"Moreover," the complaint continued, "Alice carries with her the emotional scars of being poorly treated by a respected and allegedly honest and ethical institution."
Before coming to Dartmouth, Baxter worked at Stanford, according to the complaint.
Adams said Geer no longer works at the College and left on her own volition.
"She has been hired away," he said.
Robinson said she did not have time to comment on the complaint she and Douglass filed on behalf of Baxter but that "the complaint says it all."
