Judith Harrington Papers
Scope and Contents
The Judith Harrington papers date from the mid-1960s to 2003 and document Harrington’s leadership and involvement in a class action lawsuit brought against the University of Northern Iowa, the State of Iowa, and the Iowa Board of Regents, as well as her work in faculty governance on campus.
The lawsuit was brought by UNI faculty members Judith Harrington, Elaine Kalmar, Louise Forest, and Jane Schwartz; eventually over 90 women joined the suit as well. The lawsuit was filed in March 1974 and argued that the university was in violation of the Equal Pay Act and alleged unequal pay for women faculty members. It was settled out of court in 1977. The materials in the collection related to this include court exhibit materials and departmental information compiled by women faculty members to document the alleged equal pay discrimination.
The remainder of the collection relates to faculty governance at the University of Northern Iowa in the late 1970s and 1980s. Types of materials include correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, professional articles, and correspondence with campus administrators.
Dates
- Creation: c. 1965 - 2003
Creator
- Harrington, Judith (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions. Materials are open for research.
General Use, Reproduction, and Copyright Policies
Many items housed in the Rod Library Special Collections & University Archives, including unpublished images and manuscripts, may be protected by copyright, publication rights, trademarks, or model release rights which the library does not own and for which the library cannot grant permission or licensing. Materials currently under copyright are usually still available for research and limited reproduction under Fair Use laws. However, it is the sole responsibility of the patron to determine whether or not their use of a given material falls within Fair Use guidelines and to obtain permission for said use from the rightful copyright owner.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy or similar laws, and the Iowa Open Records Law (see Iowa Code § 22.7). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of Northern Iowa assumes no responsibility.
Biographical / Historical
Judith Harrington attended Bowling Green State University from 1955 to 1957 before earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Speech & Hearing therapy from Boston University (June 1959). She did graduate work at Geneseo State College and the University of Rochester in New York, and the University of Iowa. She focused her studies on Speech Pathology and Audiology.
Prior to her University of Northern Iowa (UNI) career, Harrington was a School Speech Clinician in the Rochester, New York, school district from 1959 to 1963 and a Clinical Associate in the Speech & Hearing Clinic at the University of Iowa from 1964-1965. Harrington was hired as an instructor at the State College of Iowa (now UNI) in 1965. She later became an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and its earlier iterations. She also served as chair of the UNI faculty and of the UNI Faculty Senate.
Harrington was one of four women faculty members at UNI in the mid-1970s who brought a class action lawsuit against UNI for salary equity. Ultimately roughly 90 women became involved in the suit, which was settled prior to going to court.
Harrington retired from UNI in 2003 after nearly 40 years of teaching at the University.
Extent
1.88 Linear Feet (6 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Class action lawsuit materials donated c. 2003 and faculty governance in 2002 by Judith Harrington.
Processing Information
Collection processed and finding aid written by processing archivist Tessa Wakefield, December 2024.
- Title
- Judith Harrington Papers
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script