Elsayed Mukhtar v. California State University

We must decide whether the district court fulfilled its obligation to ensure that the testimony of an expert witness was sufficiently reliable before it was presented to the jury.

I

California State University, Hayward (“CSUH”) hired Mohamed Osman Elsayed Mukhtar (“Elsayed”), a Muslim of Sudanese origin, 1 in 1990 as a tenure-track *1057 professor in its Mass Communications Department to teach broadcast television and other foundational courses. He was the first black tenure-track professor hired by the department. CSUH eventually denied Elsayed’s application for tenure. CSUH claims it did so because he lacked sufficient scholarly activity; Elsayed contends it was because of his race, religion, and national origin. Due to the nature of the dispute, it is helpful to trace Elsayed’s career at CSUH, starting from the time of his hiring.

While the Ph.D. degree is normally a pre-requisite for hire in CSUH tenure-track positions, the University makes exceptions for applicants close to completing the doctorate. Non-degreed candidates, such as Elsayed when he started at CSUH in 1990, are generally expected to complete the Ph.D. within their first year of employment. Elsayed,…