Professor Alleges Discrimination Against Law School And Former Dean In New Lawsuit
Tenure doesn't necessarily protect you from discrimination.
Shaakirrah Sanders
Shaakirrah Sanders is a tenured professor at the University of Idaho College of Law, and she was the first African American person to achieve that feat. But just because she’s grasped the brass ring of academia, it doesn’t mean that everything is okay.
As reported by the Idaho Statesman, Professor Sanders has filed a racial and gender discrimination and retaliation against the law school and former dean, Mark L. Adams. The complaint alleges a “pattern of disparate terms and conditions” of Sanders’s employment beginning when Adams became dean in 2014. It further alleges that when she complained about her treatment, she was retaliated against:
In one example, Sanders said she wanted to teach a specific class that she had taught before and is in her area of academic research. That course was instead offered “to a white professor with less seniority, who had not taught the class, did not have scholarship in that area, and did not want to teach it,” according to the lawsuit. Similarly, the university then reassigned another class Sanders had been teaching “to a white, male visiting professor, who had not taught the subject and who was allowed to teach it remotely from Moscow, something Professor Sanders had been told she was not allowed to do,” according to the lawsuit.
Sanders also claims in the suit that when the school announced in 2017 it was creating two new associate dean positions, she was not considered for the positions even though she met the requirements. The positions went to two white men, including one who did not meet all of the requirements, according to the lawsuit. After she confronted Adams about the hires, she says she suffered more retaliation.
Sanders also says that multiple complaints were made to the school’s leadership about Adams, and as a result an internal review was initiated. According to the complaint, that review “documented that leadership was aware of multiple complaints including concerns of ‘disrespectful, uncivil and abusive communication, gender bias and/or sex discrimination, poor leadership, lack of transparency in process, a perception of favoritism in the allocation of resources and poor morale amongst staff and faculty members.”
In June of 2018, Adams stepped down as dean, but remains on faculty as a professor.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
