In an extraordinary admission, top officials at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the most prestigious science and engineering university in the country, have issued a report acknowledging that female professors here suffer from pervasive, if unintentional, discrimination.

The bill made it easier for victims of unintentional discrimination - those affected by employment practices which were superficially neutral but had a disproportionate impact on minorities - to win job discrimination lawsuits against their employers.

Statistical discrimination in the workplace is unintentional discrimination based on the presumed probability that a worker will or will not remain with the company for a long period of time.

The appointment furthers a marked shift at the university since 1999, when it issued a report, undertaken by female faculty members, concluding that women there suffered from widespread if unintentional discrimination.

They are subject to unintentional institutional discrimination which alters their productivity, promotion and earnings negatively.

He rejected petitioners' "strict approach," that under Title VII, "avoiding unintentional discrimination cannot justify intentional discrimination."

But it doesn't provide huge punitive awards for unintentional discrimination.

Remedial policies again tend to focus upon the school, upon unintentional and institutional discrimination within education.

"What we face is a lot of unintentional discrimination," said Edward M. Rozynski, vice president for global strategy and analysis of the Health Industry Manufacturers Association in Washington.

The University of California at Berkeley earlier this year announced plans to substantially alter its admissions policies to correct what it called possible unintentional discrimination against Asian students.