Papers of Sharon Leijoy Johnson, 1958-1977 (inclusive), 1972-1977 (bulk)

Sharon Leijoy Johnson, scientist and educator, was born in 1934 and received her B.S. from Iowa State University in 1955 and her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1959. A bio-organic chemist working on the structure and mechanism of enzymes, she was Fellow of the Mellon Institute, 1959-1965, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Vassar, 1965-1966, Senior Chemist at the Westinghouse Research and Development laboratories, 1966-1967. In 1967 she was appointed Assistant Professor in the Biochemistry Department of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. She was on a tenure track and was thought likely to receive tenure by the outgoing chairman of the Department. She had numerous NIH grants and published independent papers of high quality. In January 1972, Johnson was informed that her appointment would terminate in June 1973 on the grounds that her interests were too chemical and did not fit the goals of the department. In October-November 1972, the EEOC held hearings on her case. In February 1973, Johnson filed suit for tenure and backpay and on May 29, 1973 won a landmark preliminary injunction restraining the University of Pittsburgh from firing her while litigation was in process. After preliminary motions, this complex, protracted, non-jury trial began in July 1975. During the course of the trial the University of Pittsburgh's lawyers filed charges against Sylvia Roberts (Johnson's attorney), for professional misconduct, which Roberts, with the aid of the ACLU, managed successfully to dismiss. At issue in this suit and of concern to all women faculty members facing tenure decisions was the University's right to make "arbitrary and subjective judgements about women faculty." The National Organization for Women Legal Defense and Education Fund supported Johnson, and Sylvia Roberts, foremost lawyer in sex discrimination cases, served without a fee in the hope of winning a precedent-setting decision relevant both to women in the academic and business professions and in industry and government. The judgment against the plaintiff, Johnson, August 3, 1977 cleared the University of Pittsburgh of charges of sex discrimination on the grounds that the University of Pittsburgh had articulated legitimate and non-discriminatory reasons for failing to grant tenure, namely the ineffectiveness of Johnson's teaching and lack of relevance of her research to the mission of the department. On August 4, 1977, Johnson reached a written agreement with the University of Pittsburgh not to appeal in return for Pittsburgh's pledge not to sue for legal fees and court costs. Additionally Johnson continued as Research Associate for one year until June 30, 1978, so as to enable her to find another position and so as to retain her grant.