Native Information
A former Massachusetts House Grant affiliate director claims that Jeffrey Hoffman degraded her, saved her from advancing in her profession at MIT, and saved her from getting paid correctly for her work.

A former affiliate program director at MIT is suing the college and a outstanding aeronautics professor over alleged intercourse and race discrimination.
The federal lawsuit, filed July 5, claims that former NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, who’s now a professor and director of the Massachusetts House Grant program (MSG) at MIT, degraded the previous MSG affiliate director, saved her from advancing in her profession at MIT, and saved her from getting paid correctly for her work.
The plaintiff, Raji Patel, is described within the lawsuit as being “a lady of Indian descent.” She labored at MIT for 20 years, starting in 2002 and ending along with her resignation in 2022.
“Sadly, all through her employment at MIT, Professor Hoffman ran this system in a misogynistic and racially insensitive method, creating and sustaining a hostile work surroundings for Ms. Patel that finally turned insufferable and compelled her resignation in November 2022,” the lawsuit reads.
MIT stated in an announcement Tuesday evening that as normal apply, it doesn’t touch upon pending lawsuits and personnel issues.
“Nevertheless, MIT denies the allegations and intends to vigorously defend the Institute and Prof. Hoffman in courtroom,” a spokesperson for the college stated.
The alleged discrimination
The lawsuit breaks down the discrimination Patel allegedly endured into 4 classes. Firstly, it claims that Hoffman usually subjected her to “tacit slights and insults” and handled her in a different way due to her race and gender.
“These slights and insults had been usually delicate however had been pervasive and prevented Ms. Patel from being accepted as a valued member of the staff,” the lawsuit reads.
Secondly, the lawsuit alleges that Hoffman created, carried out, and strengthened “position stereotypes” and restricted Patel’s participation within the office based mostly on gender and race.
Thirdly, it claims Hoffman repeatedly devalued Patel, her opinions, and her position at MIT regardless of recognizing her as functioning on the stage of a full director throughout a 2020 efficiency evaluation.
“This purposefully prevented Ms. Patel from fulfilling her position as a Director at MIT, from being granted the standing of a Director at MIT, and reaching her full potential at MIT,” the lawsuit reads.
Lastly, the lawsuit alleges that Hoffman “purposefully and wrongfully” prevented Patel from incomes equitable pay and title designations whereas male colleagues had been allowed to advance.
The lawsuit claims MIT and Hoffman violated the Equal Pay Act of 1963; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlaws office discrimination based mostly on race, colour, faith, intercourse, and nationwide origin; and the accompanying Civil Rights Act of 1991. It asks that she be awarded damages.
When Patel began at MIT, the lawsuit says, she was greater than certified for the place of assistant director of the MSG, which is the Massachusetts part of the NASA House Grant program.
Patel was a great match to assist lead this system, which advances aerospace analysis and schooling, having earned each an undergraduate diploma in physics and a grasp’s diploma in administration from MIT, the lawsuit says.
Regardless of this, she allegedly began with a decrease wage than her male predecessor.
“Thus, from the very begin, Ms. Patel was topic to illegal discrimination,” the lawsuit reads.
Even so, the lawsuit says, Patel “accepted the place in good religion and with the
hope that her onerous work and achievement would repay in the long run.”
Patel’s contributions at MIT
From 2002 to 2021, it says, she executed all of the duties of a full-time director, which resulted in each the state authorities and NASA accepting MIT proposals. The funding from the awards benefitted over 4,000 college students, in response to the lawsuit.
Patel additionally advocated for the House Grant program in Congress, together with different House Grant program administrators throughout the nation, the lawsuit says, whereas Hoffman didn’t. This work helped save this system in 2018 after it was minimize from President Donald Trump’s proposed finances, it says.
Patel turned the go-to between authorities and the MSG, a lot in order that the Massachusetts congressional delegation believed she was the precise director of this system, the lawsuit says.
“But, all through all this time, it was Professor Hoffman who solely retained the title of Director and refused to contemplate that Ms. Patel be afforded that title (or commensurate pay) at MIT, a lot much less advocate on her behalf to be designated with that title,” the lawsuit reads.
“Professor Hoffman took these actions even if these actions had been detrimental to this system and its targets. It’s clear that Professor Hoffman’s choices had been made for discriminatory causes quite than respectable enterprise causes.”
Tensions start to flare
In 2008, the lawsuit says, Hoffman allegedly refused her request to be named a program director however allowed her to informally use the title of “co-director.”
This allowed her to hitch the House Grant Administrators’ Alliance — an advocacy committee of House Grant administrators — however didn’t include commensurate pay or respect on the college, in response to the lawsuit.
“In essence, the casual use of the time period co-Director merely allowed Ms. Patel to do Professor Hoffman’s work for him with none profit to her,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit consists of in excerpt from a 2020 efficiency evaluation of Patel written by Hoffman to assist its claims:
“The growing calls for of the MOXIE undertaking have minimize deeply into the time I can dedicate to House Grant. Fortunately, Raji has picked up each little bit of the slack and has saved Massachusetts House Grant operating easily. She has really been functioning successfully as director and doing an awesome job.”
The difficulty involves a head
In September 2021, Patel wrote a proposal which couldn’t be submitted until she was awarded full-time pay, the lawsuit says. Hoffman thus refused to submit the proposal and allegedly stepped up his discriminatory habits towards her by overtly contradicting and undermining her in conferences with NASA personnel and different House Grant administrators.
“These ways weren’t solely extraordinarily demeaning to Ms. Patel as a lady and particular person of colour, however harm this system – leaving Ms. Patel to elucidate to NASA the contradictions created within the studies submitted by MIT,” the lawsuit reads.
Because it turned increasingly more needed that Patel be named a director, the lawsuit says, she confronted Hoffman, saying that different girls had been administrators inside the House Grant program. He allegedly responded by saying “that’s not how we do it at MIT.”
The lawsuit claims MIT turned conscious of Hoffman’s efforts to stymie Patel’s development but in addition refused to grant her the title of director or enhance her pay. On the similar time, it says, the college benefited not simply from her work, however from paying her a part-time wage whereas she carried out full-time work.
The lawsuit additionally consists of an electronic mail from an MIT aerospace division head that was despatched after Patel resigned that referenced her departure as such:
“We might be remiss to not acknowledge the continued problems with employees burnout, poisonous office habits, and sexist — even misogynistic — components right here and the position they performed within the departure of one other valued colleague.”
Who’s Jeffrey Hoffman?
Hoffman holds three levels, together with a doctorate in astrophysics from Harvard College, in response to his NASA bio web page.
Whereas a NASA astronaut from 1978 to 1997, he made 5 area flights, turning into the primary astronaut to log 1,000 hours of flight time aboard the House Shuttle, the bio web page says. He carried out 4 spacewalks, together with the primary unplanned, contingency spacewalk in NASA’s historical past and the preliminary restore and rescue mission for the Hubble House Telescope.
After retiring as an astronaut, Hoffman spent 4 years as NASA’s European consultant, the bio web page says. He’s labored at MIT since 2001, is a deputy principal investigator of an experiment on NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, and is within the U.S. Astronaut Corridor of Fame.
You possibly can learn the total lawsuit beneath:
Discrimination Go well with In opposition to MIT and Prof. Jeffrey Hoffman by Susannah Sudborough on Scribd
E-newsletter Signup
Keep updated on all the most recent information from Boston.com