David Jesse

Detroit Free Press

A federal appeals court has upheld an $850,000 judgment for a former social work student at Wayne State University who was told to wear looser clothing and not to rub her pregnant belly because it might excite the male clients she was working with at a rehab center.

Monday's ruling refused to set aside the $848,690 jury award in U.S. District Court against the university in a lawsuit filed by former graduate student Tina Varlesi, who contended she was the target of discrimination during a social work internship at the Salvation Army that led to her being denied the chance to graduate. Varlesi has previously settled with the Salvation Army, which also was named in her lawsuit.

"There's just a complete arrogance by (Wayne State)," Deborah Gordon, Varlesi's attorney, told the Free Press. "They pay a lot of lip service to the law and not tolerating any discrimination, but at the end of the day, it's hollow. Now the taxpayers have to foot the bill."

Wayne State spokesman Matt Lockwood said the university was disappointed in the ruling and was in the process of reviewing the opinion issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Varlesi enrolled at Wayne State in the fall of 2006, seeking a master's degree in social work. She got excellent grades, court records say. In her second and final year, Wayne State required Varlesi and other social worker students to have field experience. She was originally placed at a Veterans Administration Hospital, but left that placement in middle of the year and was placed at the Salvation Army, where she worked with men dealing with substance abuse issues,

Varlesi had become pregnant earlier that year. Her fiance had also left her.

When she got the Salvation Army internship, her supervisor, a female, "addressed her obvious pregnancy immediately, ordering her not to drive after dark or in bad weather, questioning her marital status and living arrangements and announcing that though she had 'had relations' with someone, the men at the rehab 'can look but they cannot touch,'" the court ruling said. Other students were present for this "uncomfortable conversation."

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The supervisor was not a licensed social worker, Varlesi claimed, something Wayne State's policies forbid.

The supervisor also continued to comment on Varlesi's pregnancy. Varlesi filed a complaint with Wayne State, and at a meeting about it, the supervisor said she had told Varlesi "repeatedly to stop 'rubbing her belly' and to wear looser clothing, and said that the men at the facility were being 'turned on by her pregnancy.'"

The Wayne State administrators in the meeting told Varlesi she should wear looser clothing.

In April 2008, Varlesi was given a failing grade in the internship. That prevented her from fulfilling the requirements for graduation. Varlesi complained about the grade and filed a formal complaint with Wayne State. The university denied the claim, saying the School of Social Work already had investigated. However, social work school Dean Phyllis Vroom admitted during the trial that there had not been an investigation.

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Wayne State filed an appeal based on a number of legal claims, all of which were denied by the Court of Appeals.

"Tina lost a whole career," Gordon said. "They (Wayne State) didn't care about the discrimination. They let it happen. They backed up (those who were discriminating) and assured Tina couldn't graduate."

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj