Washington vs. SDSU: the struggle for justice continues.(Pat Washington and San Diego State University's racial discrimination case)

For Dr. Pat Washington, the distance between Suffolk, Virginia, and San Diego, California, cannot be measured in miles alone. Born in Suffolk's poorest black neighborhood a decade before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Washington managed--through grace and grit--to finish high school and college, earn a PhD, and gain entree to the privileged world of academe.

In spring 1996, Washington finished her PhD and five universities arranged to interview her for tenure-track jobs. She stopped looking after the third interview, however, because San Diego State University's Women's Studies Department--the oldest and most respected of its type in the nation--wanted her (of the ...