DECISION AND ORDER I. Introduction This is an age and religion employment discrimination and retaliation action by Plaintiff Sister Nancy Kaczmarek against her former employer, then known as D’Youville College (now D’Youville University; hereinafter “D’Youville”) and its president Dr. Lorre Clemo, Ph.D. (Docket No. 1, Compl.). Sister Kaczmarek was a Professor of Education and archivist at D’Youville. In 2018, D’Youville decided to lay off (or as it termed “retrench”) the faculty of its Education Department, leading to D’Youville firing Plaintiff from both positions. In January 2019, D’Youville recommended establishing a Masters of Curriculum and Instruction program but refused to reinstate retrenched Education Department faculty (including Sister Kaczmarek). Before this Court is Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 441). For the reasons stated herein, Defendants’ Motion (Docket No. 44) is granted in part, denied in part. Issue of fact remain for potential trial on whether Defendants discriminated against Sister Kaczmarek in terminating her part-time position as archivist because of religion. II. Background A. Facts Alleged in the Complaint (Docket No. 1) Sister Kaczmarek is a member of the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart (Docket No. 1, Compl. 1) and earned a Ph.D. in English Education (id. 16). She worked for D’Youville since 1981, awarded tenure in 1995 as Professor of Education and (since 2016) also served as college archivist (id.
16, 26). Sister Kaczmarek had excellent teaching evaluations and was involved in service and faculty activities at D’Youville (id. 16). Sister Kaczmarek also claims she was qualified to teach English and to teach in the Education Leadership Program (id. 35) while also deemed highly thought of as an archivist by the Head Librarian and library staff (id. 29). Sister Kaczmarek believed she would continue as archivist even after retiring from full-time teaching as had her predecessors as archivist. She obtained certification as a Certified Archivist. (Id.) Sister Kaczmarek held those positions until September 7, 2018, when the Education Department was “retrenched” and D’Youville eliminated the archivist position. (Id. 12.) In August 2018, D’Youville announced that it eliminated or “retrenched” the Education Department due to diminished enrollment in its teacher education programs and the availability of teachers’ education at other area colleges (id.
