After Tracy Seckler graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1992, she decided to become a teacher and enrolled in the master's program at Teacher's College at Columbia University. While working on her degree, she set out to obtain a license to work as a substitute teacher.

She called the New York City licensing office four times to find out what papers she needed to bring in and received four different answers. When she arrived in person, she told the clerk who reviewed her application that she wanted to teach English. But the clerk said that was impossible: On Seckler's Harvard transcript, her course codes began with "hist," the abbreviation for an interdisciplinary honors program called History and Literature. Even though Seckler wrote her thesis on American literature, she was told she could substitute teach only in history classes because she lacked sufficient credits to teach English.

Seckler decided to teach in suburban Scarsdale instead.

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