Female Grad Student Loses Appeal in Suit Against Penn State - Higher Education: A graduate student who was dismissed from a Pennsylvania State University doctoral program has lost her appeal in a gender discrimination, retaliation and hostile educational environment case.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reinstate a suit by Yan Yan against PSU, the chair of her program, and a male doctoral student in her lab.
The Intercollegiate Graduate Program in Cell and Developmental Biology admitted Yan as a Ph.D. candidate in June 2007, the decision said. She was assigned as a teaching assistant and to conduct research in the program chair’s lab and was scheduled to take her comp exam in the summer of 2008.
In a January 2008 lab accident, Yan broke two fingers. The next month, she complained to campus police that the doctoral student who was the senior lab assistant had threatened and intimidated her, leading to the injury. After an internal investigation, the two students were advised to stay away from each other, according to the court.
