Case Study: Pilon V. Saginaw Valley State University

As stated above this case was brought to the United States District Court, Northern Division because the Plaintiff, Cindy A. Pilon, a Caucasian female applied for the Coordinator of Campus Recreation position at Saginaw Valley State University and was denied the position. The person who was rewarded the job was an African-American male. The plaintiff alleged reverse discrimination on January 7, 2003 and sued the university as well as the dean of the university, Richard P. Thompson. On march 10, 2003, the plaintiff amended her complaint, which now claims denial of equal protection of laws and discrimination on account of race in forming contracts; race discrimination against SVSU; and declaratory and injunctive relief against both defendants. …show more content…
The affirmative action plan according to Pilon v. SVSU & Thompson (2003), “Reduce the barriers that inhibit success by minorities.” The plan also states that the university must “undertake extraordinary efforts in the years ahead to serve students from diverse, racial and ethnic communities. This will require efforts to expand the pool of available candidates in hiring decisions, to provide genuine consideration for a greater variety of relevant experiences and credentials to achieve the University’s broad goals.” The court decided that the existence of an affirmative action plan by itself does not provide strong evidence unless there are facts that show it played a roll in the employer’s decision. The defendants insist that the plan did not play any roll when hiring for the position of Coordinator of Campus