Frank Cerrato v. San Francisco Community College District

Opinion by Judge REINHARDT.

I. INTRODUCTION

This case involves a civil-rights suit by plaintiff-appellant Frank Cerrato, a white mathematics professor at San Francisco Community College (“SFCC”) who had applied for — and was denied — an appointment to Dean I of Instruction. Cerrato contends that the SFCC district, chancellor, and board illegally discriminated against him by hiring Bennett Tom, an Asian-American administrator, for that position. Cerrato also contends that Tom illegally discriminated against him by tampering with the job requirements for Dean I of Instruction.

The jury found for the defendants on most of Cerrato’s claims. The district court then entered judgment in favor of the defendants on all but four of the remaining federal claims, and it remanded the remaining state claims to state court. Cerrato subsequently dismissed the federal claims without prejudice. We affirm the district court’s judgment.

II. FACTS

In May 1984, the SFCC district posted a job opening for Dean I of Instruction for Math-Science, which required three years of full-time college teaching experience. Cerra-to applied for the job, but the opening was withdrawn for budgetary reasons.

In…