When Peggy Averite left her job as a school official in Indianapolis, the Ivy League graduate had received nothing but glowing performance reviews, and was heavily recruited across the nation. After some consideration, she finally accepted the City of Cambridge's offer to serve as Principal of the Agassiz School, an elementary school in North Cambridge.

Within two years, though, Averite had started looking for a new job, alleging that the city, under the direction of City Manager Robert W. Healy, had been unwilling to promote her and treat her the same as her white coworkers.

Now Averite, along with seven other female minority Cambridge officials, is suing the city for discrimination.

The charges have added fuel to the fire of three city councillors, who have been trying to remove Healy since 1997.

Since city councillors have limited control over the hiring and firing of city employees, these three councillors--Kenneth E. Reeves '72, Timothy J. Toomey and Katherine Triantafillou--have exercised their power by trying to remove the city manager, who is responsible for personnel decisions.

The Lawsuits

As part of a 2,400-person Cambridge bureaucracy that included only 14 managers of color, the eight litigants claim their race was the reason they initially got their managerial jobs, and the reason why they faced discrimination once they accepted the positions.

Ellen Zucker, a lawyer at Dwyer and Collora who represents four of the litigants, claims that these women, often the lone minorities in their department, were patronized by their white coworkers and "were made to feel as if they were token minorities hired simply because of their race."

Some city councillors, like Reeves, back that claim. He says the women were all hired in the mid-1990s as a part of an affirmative action push.

"The city employment record of women of color is so poor that it is evident that they were just hired to fill minority seats," he said.

In their discrimination suits, Zucker's clients specifically complain of antagonistic superiors, difficulties obtaining recognition for their work and harsher disciplinary penalties than their coworkers.

Because the litigants' positions were managerial, they reported either to Healy directly or to his subordinate, Assistant City Manager Jill Herold.

That's where the city council comes in.

"My clients are suing the city for what the city manager did," Zucker said. "It's a natural reaction that the city council would respond by firing the city manager."

A Closer Look at Healy