By DAREH GREGORIAN
June 16, 2008
An internationally renowned Columbia professor is going to court to teach the school a lesson in gender equality.
Opening arguments begin today in Dr. Graciela Chichilnisky's multimillion-dollar discrimination and retaliation suit against her employer of 30 years.
"They know this is a serious problem, and they have no interest in addressing it," the math and economics professor told The Post.
She filed a similar suit against the university in the early 1990s. The case was settled in 1995 with no admission of wrongdoing by Columbia, but with Chichilnisky's salary almost doubled, her office space and research resources greatly expanded and a $500,000 damages payment.
"I thought I had solved the problem - my problem, anyway - and then things got worse," she said.
In addition to her pay again lagging dramatically behind that of her male counterparts, Chichilnisky said the university has retaliated against her by breaching the terms of the settlement.
She filed her current suit in 2000 and Columbia filed counterclaims, charging that she violated school rules by failing to report that she had a second job as CEO of the multimillion-dollar corporation she founded, and that she breached the terms of the settlement.
Columbia's general counsel, Patricia Catapano, said, "The trial will demonstrate that Columbia fully supported and compensated Prof. Chichilnisky in her research and academic duties."
