Developing: Bridge Collapses Near Seattle…Unknown Injuries…See the Photos

Doc Thompson’s 24-hour radio marathon, ‘#24forok,’ continues until 9 am ET — Listen Live!

Education

Judge Denies New Trial for Conservative Scholar Who Says She Was Denied Promotions Because of Her Politics

Mar. 9, 2013 6:16pm Christopher Santarelli

Conservative Scholar Who Says She Was Denied Promotions Because of Her Politics Will Not Get New Trial

Teresa Wagner Says Her Political Viewpoints Unfairly Kept Her From Promotions (University of Iowa)

(TheBlaze/AP)– A conservative scholar who sued a University of Iowa law school dean, saying she was denied promotions because of her political orientation, will not get a new trial.

Teresa Wagner, 48, had sought another trial after a federal jury found in October that the university did not discriminate against her. A mistrial was declared on a second count alleging the school had violated Wagner’s equal protection rights. A third count charging that Wagner’s due process rights had been violated was dismissed before the trial.

Wagner sought retrial on all counts.

Her lawyers asserted that the judge accepted the verdict without allowing attorneys to be present. That, they said, denied them the right to poll the jury, a process that helps determine if jurors were unduly pressured to render a verdict after lengthy deliberations.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt issued a ruling rejecting Wagner’s arguments and denying a new trial, The Des Moines Register reported. The judge also granted the law school defendants’ motion to dismiss the count that the school had violated Wagner’s equal protection rights.

Following the October trial, members of the jury said they believed the law school had denied Wagner a promotion because of her politics, but did not rule in the woman’s favor because they were split on whether the school’s former dean – whom Wagner named in the lawsuit – could be held responsible.

Wagner was a part-time employee of the law school’s writing center and appeared on track to get a full-time position teaching legal writing and analysis to first-year law students in 2007. But the faculty voted to hire a less-qualified candidate who had to resign within a year for poor performance, did not fill the other job, and then refused to consider Wagner for similar jobs that came open later.

Wagner filed the lawsuit contending the 50-member faculty – which included 46 Democrats – blocked her appointment because they knew she was a Republican who had worked for two anti-abortion groups, the National Right to Life Committee and the Family Research Council.

Benghazi, IRS, AP...What's next? Only TheBlaze TV offers the truth from Glenn Beck, Andrew Wilkow, and Real News from TheBlaze. Get instant access and a free trial here.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (35)

DebateMe
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 11:59am
The age of the woman (48) is interesting. She speaks out probably because she can afford to financially. Imagine the young kids who are held captive by the grading of a liberal professor who may or may not give a fair grade unless you tow a liberal line. This is likely the tip of the ice berg at this college.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
scrubbos
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 6:20pm
It’s obvious miss Wagner was wrong we all know how inclusive dems are and how open they are to diverse opinions.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 1:36pm
Republicans fit the description of a protected class. They are lied about, prejudged, pre-demonized and discriminated against. They represent diversity, made up of Asians, Africans, Native Americans, Latinos, YES- even blacks (which really highlights the scheme of 0 votes going Republican when in fact that is impossible anywhere on the Planet, even in the Democrat’s socially engineered ghettos)/
When voter fraud is committed against Republicans it gets swept under the rug. Prejudice was fought against primarily BY Republicans. Does this explain the Democrat leadership (Alinsky radicals, founders of the KKK) pure hatred of the Republican party? It sounds like it.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Independent4233
  Posted on March 10, 2013 at 2:54pm
  Radical leftists involve people who are underhanded, unfair, resentful, childish and immature, to just name a few of their deficiencies. And it is the academics who seem to be the worst. They have turned universities and elementary schools into anti-American indoctrination centers of hate.
  
  And they have the unmitigated gall to warn against those on the right who they claim are concerned with violence.
  
  If they were right, of course, the academics and MSM would be pushing up daisies right now and the institutes of lower education and the MSM structures would all be a pile of ashes right now.
  
  However, if they don’t shut their mouths and shape up that’s exactly what will hapen. Many people are at the fed up level right now and are looking for payback for destroying their nation, traditions and way of life.
  
  The radical leftists know that that’s why they always try to ridicule any projections of violent upheaval. They have to self-delude themselves into thinking it would never happen or they wouldn’t feel safe saying what the do and acting the way they do.
  
  Actually the thought that this society could explode into warfare terrifies them to no end, so much so they won’t even entertain the possibility and pretend it’s all nonsense.
  
  Report this comment
txgrrl
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 12:50pm
This happens more than you know. I am in higher education and I was on a hiring committee. We submitted three final candidates to our dean for a final interviews. One was a minority, and we knew that (despite the fact that she wasn’t the strongest candidate) she would be hired. She was hired over the two white female employees who already had a history with the school. Of course, if the college doesn’t comply or doesn’t demonstrate enough “diversity,” in its hiring practices the EEOC might come after them.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Independent4233
  Posted on March 10, 2013 at 10:48pm
  “One was a minority, and we knew that (despite the fact that she wasn’t the strongest candidate) she would be hired.”
  
  That’s a nice way of putting it, but I would hazard a guess that she’s black and probably couldn’t pass a high school GED test and was advanced through the university as an AA awardee.
  
  An honest professor once admitted a short while ago that, “We are expected to pass X number of African Americans whether they’re competent or not, and if we don’t we’re called to face the administration to answer for it.”
  
  A black female pharmacist in my area mislabelled a prescription for an injured boy who had his mouth wired shut. The prescription instruction said, “Do not swallow. Will cause vomiting.” She wrote on the label: “Gargle and swallow.” And if he had followed her directions he would have probably choked to death on his own vomit.
  
  The mother stormed down to the pharmacy wanting to know who was responsible for the mislabelling. Irritated the “pharmacist” angrily told the lady to give her the bottle and she would re-label it, never once indicating any concern she could have been the cause of a young boy’s death.
  
  The parents were looking into suing the pharmacy, but I don’t know how it turned out. I do know my wife and I aren’t about to let our young son become the victim of an AA certified incompetent, in or out of the medical field.
  
  Fortunately that didn’
  
  Report this comment
Spitfire1938
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 9:50am
How’s that Constitution and Bill of Rights work’n out for ya? What…. it’s not there anymore? Gee… I wonder what happend?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
skebus01
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 9:38am
Of course the judge couldn’t possibly have any political bias. After all he was appointed by Bill Clinton.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
charliego
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 9:22am
I hope she turns this obviously discriminating situation into a positive by remaining strong against what is insidiously eating up our Nation.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
bullcrapbuster
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 3:38am
Evil is having its way. The winding up scene will not be pretty.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
CommonSense41
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 3:07am
The courts, academia are infected with the communist, progressive viruses. I hoped I would never hear the stance that 1% of the US population owns 99% of the country wealth but 99% owns 1% of the country wealth when I run from USSR in June 1991. I have heard this USSR communist propaganda for my entire life. I was mistaken. I heard it from a Sociology instructor in the local community college in 1995 again. I was stunned. I pinched myself. Am I dreaming? Am I still in Soviet Union? I was terrified. I am still terrified. I am terrified when I hear that the mayor of the New York wants to regulate every step of the people’s life. He sounds like a Nazi. I am terrified mostly of the people who vote people like Bloomberg, Obama, Biden, and likes in the public offices. They vote for Hitler, Mussolini, Poll Pot, Hamas, and like dictators. They are who I am terrified of.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- NOTAMUSHROOM
  Posted on March 10, 2013 at 8:33am
  Nah. You’re not dreaming. It’s here! Yay oh yay!
  
  Doesn’t this lady know she has to be black in order to be a victim of discrimination?
  
  Report this comment
- Ohello
  Posted on March 10, 2013 at 12:33pm
  Bloomberg and Karl Marx and Hitler are Jews
  
  Report this comment
denkat56
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 10:56pm
Nothing to see here, just move along. The high courts are mostly liberals anyway. Why would they vote any other way. These liberals scream the loudest about rights, and yet they are the biggest abusers of it. Where’s the ACLU, why don’t they get involved. Its their job to protect the weak and helpless, and those mistreated by the system.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Chromo200
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 10:47pm
If the conservatives in Uni of Iowa stop sending them money, and tell them why, they may get the idea. I did to my college.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- OneWithGodistheMajority
  Posted on March 10, 2013 at 12:57am
  Why are parents sending kids to these Über leftist schools. I agree. If you stop supporting the action, it will go way.
  
  Report this comment
dannyo
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 9:41pm
update: case went to the supreme court…john roberts cast the deciding “nay”…said if 46 D’s think she is unqualified, she must be…cited the 50,000 Frenchmen wouldn’t lie theory and obamacare proceedings as references..

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
barber2
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 9:18pm
Maybe it was the cross earrings which ruined her case ?! Seems as though atheism is much more ” in” since the Chicago radicals hijacked the Democrat Party and started to Occupy the White House. Shades of Saul Alinsky and Bill Ayers.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
65Mustang
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:17pm
She got a royal screwing from a judge that is in the pocket with the 46 Democrats that blocked her appointment. The days for fairness, in any area, will soon be a thing of the past.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Diane TX
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:10pm
So, it’s “Official” now. Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Teresa Wagner, and all others who hold center to right political views, and traditional social views are to be put in the bin marked “superannuated”.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Walkabout
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:10pm
Time to defund some college & universities like we will defund some TV networks.

It will take a long time but It will be worth it. Colleges have bloated their staffs, created stupid curriculi, & overpriced their tuition.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
neverending
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:35pm
No surprise at all – is and will continue growing to be the norm.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:29pm
That does not sound like social justice to me, what if her lawyer did not argue her case sufficiently? That means she deserves to have the door slammed shut? The only way for her to fight this now, is through social media, and campaigning for politicians that will ensure something like this can not happen to anyone else?

It’s called feedback marketing, Fortune 100 companies have been using it for decades now?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Rayblue
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:25pm
Although I admire her politics she could use some conditioner.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- DZ-015
  Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:06pm
  At least she didn’t go with the Debbie Wasserman-Shultz oleaginous look.
  
  Report this comment
Comrade_Bob
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:16pm
The Democrat Party has devolved into a state religion with three Tenets:

1. Evolution is real, but stopped 30,000 years ago in humans. The widely differing environments in which various tribes evolved had no effect on human development. To deny evolution makes you a ‘hick’. To argue that evolution in humans continued after some left tropical Africa makes you a ‘racist’ (more accurately a ‘heretic’).

2. Electricity can be stored in amounts necessary to supply the bulk electric system with intermittent sources such as wind and solar.

3. Education can significantly improve a human’s intelligence quotient.

To question any of these three religious Tenets is to put your career and financial security in jeopardy. The leadership of this emerging Church would, if they achieve the power they desire, do far worse.

Every single of these Tenets are, of course, delusional sociopathic Lies.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:00pm
Democrat/Commies run the Universities because they get huge taxpayer funds every year from the States. Tom Emmer a Republican, ran against Tom Dayton in MN…recount, after recount. Dayton barely won. The Secretary of State, Marc Richie is a Soros funded lackey. Dayton is wretched! Tom Emmer is on am 1130 talk radio every morning before Glenn Beck. Tom Emmer has too much common sense! He applied to a University….same thing. They did not even give him a genuine reason for their refusal to all him to teach. The Universities are WORSE than the Main Stream Media.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
WTFHappenedToTheUSA
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:53pm
Lady, I am sure these liberal POS did violate your rights…and I think they did you a favor.

I would not want to work with one POS liberal, let along 46…

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
john vincent
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:51pm
———-Wagner was a part-time employee of the law school’s writing center and appeared on track to get a full-time position teaching legal writing and analysis to first-year law students in 2007. But the faculty voted to hire a less-qualified candidate who had to resign within a year for poor performance, did not fill the other job, and then refused to consider Wagner for similar jobs that came open later.————

A knee-jerk reaction would be to agree with Ms Wagner; but one must at least consider the possibility that she was not qualified for the advancement. After all, the article does say ‘and APPEARED on track’ for a promotion, leaving a lot of room for interpretation.

That said, there is ample evidence that further consideration would not be out of line. She should try to get all her concerns answered, and if she was denied for politics ,sake, then certainly she should be compensated for all back pay, as well as the position she sought—–

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Southerner01
  Posted on March 9, 2013 at 10:33pm
  Adjunct faculty are very rarely “Promoted” to a full time position. On a rare occasion, they apply and are hired, over the pool of other applicants. However, there are so many issues in this case that are not reported here, that it is impossible to tell whether this is a case of someone discriminated against for their political leanings, or whether they were a mediocre teacher and a difficult person to work with.
  
  Report this comment
- john vincent
  Posted on March 9, 2013 at 10:50pm
  -south
  
  I worked with a fellow who was ‘pentacostal,’ and he ranted and raved about ‘God told me this’ or that, as his face exploded like a tomato, (hardly representative of that ‘wisdom which is from above.’ ) He continually complained about ‘the lord and his judgement on these ungodly workers….,’ and I found him to be the highest of hypocrites and a lousy worker. (He was fired no surprise, some time later)
  
  He manufactured his own ‘persecution’ by being obnoxious, so you are right, there could be a religious component with our lady here, or a whole host of other things, or she just may be the target of unjust discrimination-time will tell. But its ok to reserve a final opinion until more light is shed.
  
  I do not want to be guilty of that which I despise in others- poor judgement without facts, but some very good comments here never the less
  
  Report this comment
Comeandtakeit
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:42pm
I hope she appeals this!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
progressiveslayer
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:39pm
which included 46 Democrats – blocked her appointment because they knew she was a Republican

The judge’s political leanings wouldn’t play a role either because as we know judges are exempt from being impartial,they have some special powers that removes all bias,it’s amazing.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Triple7
  Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:11pm
  No no. It’s super special powers they have.
  
  Report this comment
- Ohello
  Posted on March 10, 2013 at 12:38pm
  Try “exempt from being partial”. But we think we know what you meant.
  
  Report this comment

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.