This week in employment law news, De Anza Community College as well as several school officials including the president and the dean (Ms. Lee’s supervisor) face a 53-page lawsuit from former tenured professor, Tabia Lee. Ms. Lee was also the faculty director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education at the college in Cupertino. Ms. Lee’s lawsuit alleges that the community college violated her first amendment right to freedom of speech, wrongfully discharged her under California state law, and also violated the California state constitution. Ms. Lee further alleges in her lawsuit that, “De Anza prefers empty gestures and word gimmicks to ending discrimination on the basis of race. And the only significant action taken by [them] has been to discriminate against and retaliate against Dr. Lee for her failure to conform to race-based stereotypes.” According to the lawsuit, Ms. Lee is black and dedicated to humanism, encouraging people to not be judged by their race but instead by their character. She also founded an online journal, Free Black Thought, which features authors dedicated to diversity of thought among and about Black Americans. Ms. Lee claims that employees of the college labeled her as not being the “right kind of Black” on multiple occasions, because her beliefs did not align with the college’s stereotypes of diversity and equity.
