Original Story: yahoo.com
LAWRENCE,
Kan. (AP) — A white University of Kansas assistant professor who used a
racial slur during a class discussion on race said the school won't
renew her contract after the next academic year. If you have been fired
contact a Memphis wrongful termination lawyer for help.
Andrea
Quenette, who was cleared by a university investigation into complaints
of discrimination, said Monday she was notified last week that she
would not be reappointed to her job after the spring 2017 semester, The
Lawrence Journal-World reported (http://bit.ly/1OTQZ8c ). The decision
came as Quenette, an assistant professor of communication studies, was
undergoing a progress toward tenure review, which is routine for
third-year faculty.
Quenette, 33, said she would teach
an online communications class this summer and do only research during
the fall semester. She said her duties for the spring 2017 semester have
not been determined.
A group of graduate students
demanded in November that Quenette be fired after she used the slur in a
class, which was held the day after a contentious forum on race and
discrimination at the university. It also came amid protests at the
University of Missouri over administrators' handling of racial issues,
which led to the resignations of the system president and chancellor of
the Columbia campus.
Quenette has said diversity in the
classroom was part of the syllabus for the class, which is for graduate
students who teach undergraduate courses. After a student asked how
they could talk about race in their classes, the conversation moved to
how the university should address racial problems. Quenette said she
used the slur when comparing the University of Kansas to other campuses
and did not direct it toward a specific person.
Quenette
has said she could have apologized "in the moment" if anyone had
responded, but no one did, so she continued the discussion.
A
letter seeking Quenette's firing included other complaints, describing
her as racially insensitive, confrontational and unprofessional. She
sought and was given an administrative leave until the situation was
resolved.
After several students, some of whom were not
in the class, filed complaints, the university's Office of
Institutional Opportunity and Access determined in March that Quenette
had not violated the university's nondiscrimination or racial and ethnic
harassment policies. However, Quenette said her administrative leave
from campus wasn't lifted until Friday. A Memphis employee rights lawyer may be able to help if you were wrongfully terminated.
Quenette
said she "absolutely" believes the decision to fire her was based on
race-related events of the past year rather than solely on her
performance.
"I've been very powerless throughout the
entire situation," she said. "I still believe that I was assumed guilty,
and I had to prove my innocence for all of the issues."
Kansas
spokesman Andy Hyland declined to discuss Quenette's employment
situation, saying it is a personnel matter and "is not related to the
claims of discrimination raised to the Office of Institutional
Opportunity and Access," the Journal-World reported.
