You’d really think law schools would know better than to break laws when it comes to their employees — some of these folks wrote the book on this stuff! Alas, knowing better does not always translate to doing better. Heads up to any UMichigan law students; according to a recently filed complaint, the details of your future Employment law final hypo could be based on events down the hall.
A federal lawsuit alleging race, gender and disability discrimination was filed Friday against the University of Michigan and its law school by a law professor who is Black and a single mother.
Laura Beny, who teaches corporate law, has tenure and a chaired professorship. According to her Aug. 26 lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, other professors in her cohort earned more than her, and when she complained, the university retaliated against her with sanctions.
Things already run by my nose as fishy. I don’t know if you’ve been following any of the Amy Wax Penn Law debacle, but she’s been saying racist shit for, according to the AbovetheLaw archives, at least 5 years. That’s longer than the Confederacy lasted! And while it is likely true that Wax has been waxing poetic about her favorite Stormfront takes for longer than that, I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to show how long tenure track professors can be documented on a widely read site for being bad people with little to no consequence and dunk on one of history’s biggest losers in the same fell swoop.
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She is also suing Mark West, the law school’s associate dean at the time*, for his allegedly inappropriate behavior. Before you get to the next part, and I say this as a frequent reddit user, this reads like some down bad cringe.
“People are persecuting me because of your beauty. Make them stop!! The people down in communications are all over my ass trying to get me to cajole you into finding time for a photoshoot,” West wrote, according to the complaint.
It also alleges that he signed off the communication with: “I will not grovel to you again. Your humble minion, Mark XOXOXO.”
…
Beny alleges that in another 2010 email, West wrote that he would put a photo of her infant daughter on his desk and tell everyone that the child was his.
“No other single parents were on the faculty at defendant law school to plaintiff’s knowledge and belief; and defendant West never spoke to other new mothers, white women, on the faculty in the same offensive manner,” according to the complaint.
Accidentally hitting reply all when you want to share a snide remark with a specific co-worker is one thing, but coming off as a guy who listens to top 10 pick up artist compilations on Youtube for the morning drive to work is a completely different level of shame. Dehydrated Shamwows don’t even display that level of thirst. Before spending his time allegedly channeling the horny at UMichigan, West used to work at Paul, Weiss. I don’t want to be unfair, but you’d think that a guy with such a decorated CV would do better than to allegedly leave such a clear paper trail of…aesthetic appraisals. The firm had a more relaxed HR department than the school, maybe?
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Editorial Note 09/01/22: I inaccurately referred to Mark West as the law schools former Dean. He is the current dean of the law school.
Law Prof’s Suit Against Law School Alleges Race And Gender Discrimination, Family Status Bias [ABA Journal]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.