Professor Accuses Temple|of Age Discrimination

PHILADELPHIA (CN) - Temple University fired a 68-year-old assistant professor from his $76,000-a-year job because it wants a younger faculty, the humanities professor claims in Federal Court.

Ivan Taub taught since 1997 as a non-tenure track instructor in the university's Intellectual Heritage program, a mixture of theology, philosophy and literature that forms a portion of all undergraduates' mandated curriculum.

Taub says he took a sabbatical in spring this year and university policy requires a professor returning from sabbatical to work for at least another year.

He says the Intellectual Heritage Program began offering 3-year contracts in 2014, but he was offered only one year.

He claims his department chairman wrote him on May 31, 2014 that "I tended to protect the most vulnerable (which may, in part, lead to some ageism. ... [but] I have prioritized those I will ask for three years next year, and you're at the top of the list."

But he was offered only a one-year contract, Taub says, and on March 12 this year he was told that his job would end on June 30, and not be renewed.

The Intellectual Heritage Program has 80 instructors, "almost all of whom are substantially younger than Plaintiff Taub, and most of whom are 55 years of age or less," the complaint states.

He seeks lost wages, front pay, reinstatement and damages for age discrimination.

He represented by Andrew Abramson, of Blue Bell, Pa.

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