The Supreme Court of North Dakota affirmed the dismissal of George Ellis' age discrimination complaint against NDSU on June 17. Ellis had worked as the NDSU sports information director for many years.
He was terminated from the athletics department in June 2004. He appealed the dismissal to NDSU's Staff Personnel Board citing age discrimination. The board concluded that Ellis' termination was justified and that he had not been subject to discrimination. After exhausting his administrative remedies, Ellis filed a lawsuit under the North Dakota Human Rights Act against NDSU in Cass County District Court.
The case was an unusual one in that Ellis originally won a judgment against NDSU. There were three oral arguments in two separate appeals before the North Dakota Supreme Court. The case is important, as the Supreme Court held the trial court must give due deference to the internal administrative board decision and uphold that decision if a reasoning mind could have reasonably come to the conclusion it did. The case recognized the special constitutional status of the Board of Higher Education and NDSU.