Respect for Others
We will treat everyone we contact with respect and dignity-
This means that each member of the campus community
- Treats others with respect and dignity
Perspective: A Real World Illustration
A June 2000 Houston Chronicle newspaper article reported on a public university located in Texas being accused in a federal lawsuit of firing four people on the same day because they were not born in the United States, and terminating a fifth because her parents were foreign-born.
The suit was filed by a naturalized citizen who emigrated from Thailand in 1972 and worked for 15 years as a computer specialist at the university's law school.
The plaintiff said in a March 1999 interview that he "came to work like every day" and was told by the interim law school dean that his $56,000-a-year job as director of computing was "eliminated."
On the same day, the interim dean terminated employees who were born in Liberia, the West Indies, and a person whose parents are Jamaican.
The interim dean claimed she could legally fire these people as part of a "reorganization," but she replaced most with individuals born in the United States, the suit says.
The lawsuit claims the interim dean's spring 1999 end-of-semester report showed her disdain for foreign-born people. According to the suit, she wrote, "We should not endorse poor staff performance with pretentious approval of their poor conduct or performance in order 'to get our work done. I have been advised that I need to understand that [the university] is like a Third World country and that we must 'bribe' our way to get the service we deserve."
The plaintiff, who has taken a lower-paying job to support his wife and daughter, said he was always praised for his work at the university before he was fired.
"I was educated in the United States and I believed there was justice here," he said. "I came from a Third World country where things like this happen."
The plaintiff said the interim dean told him she was "cleaning house" at the request of incoming law school dean who took over in August 2000.
The plaintiff's lawyer said the university held grievance hearings last year but upheld the firings. He said the university did not follow its written policy of progressively warning employees that they may be disciplined.
The suit is seeking unspecified damages for alleged violations of constitutional protections against discrimination based on national origin, as well as violations of due process rights.
A university law school professor, a naturalized citizen from the West Indies, tried to persuade the university administration to re-instate the employees.
"I'm inclined to believe these actions go more towards removing anyone not born in the United States." He said he believes the interim dean, who still teaches at the law school, is an "honorable person" who made a "big mistake."
The plaintiff's attorney said it is ironic that such discrimination would occur at the historically black university, which "has a long and honorable history of fighting discrimination."
Last Revised 5/23/2006