Cases & Developments

Opinion affirming-in-part and reversing-in-part summary judgment in favor of the University. Plaintiffs, eight tenured faculty at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM), brought contract claims against the University when it reduced their salaries, full-time status, and lab space after they purportedly failed to meet the requirements of TUSM’s 2016, 2017, and 2019 compensation and lab space policies. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the University, concluding that the compensation and lab space policies did not violate the academic freedom or economic security provisions of the University’s tenure documents. In reversing and remanding with respect to the compensation policies, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts found that the meaning of the “economic security” provisions in the tenure documents is ambiguous and that “more evidence is required regarding the customs and practices and reasonable expectations related to salary and full-time status for tenured professors at TUSM, and even other universities and medical schools, to resolve the question whether the significant reductions … violated the economic security provided in the tenure documents.” It affirmed summary judgment in favor of the University on plaintiffs’ claims regarding lab space, finding statements on academic freedom and economic security insufficient to support the claim that lab space was guaranteed.