Community College Employee violated my civil rights.

[narcosleepygirl]

What is the name of your state? Washington

I go to a communtiy college here in Washington. The college has a federally funded program that helps students who are low-income, first generation students and/or disabled, to succeed in their academic pursuits. I am eligible for this program under all three requirements.

In fact, since I started at this college in 2005, I have been established in this program, receiving academic and personal counseling, along with help figuring out what I want to do with my education, among other things. Recently, I have been terminated from the program by the director. The reason? I was sexually assaulted off campus by another student that receives help from the same program and the director decided to side with him without ever hearing my side of the story. The man that did this is a long standing criminal in the county I reside in, is listed as a potential armed career criminal and is the respondent of two protection orders from different females. He has 32 court cases under one name and 28 under another, yet the director told me she thought I was being dishonest. She then turned around and tried to state that I did not have the academic need required to stay in the program because I have a high GPA.

I have tried to resolve this through an informal grievance, and am currently going through a formal grievance with her. In my formal grievance I have requested that the college take action in addressing the director's biased behavior and that I be reinstated into the program.

The Vice President for Student Services wrote a no contact letter for me and the other student in order for us to co-exist at the college. The other student has been violating the no contact letter he was given and the college security has done nothing to enforce it despite the incident reports I've been writing up, along with witnesses when there are any.

Recently, I received a letter from the Vice President for Student Services telling me that I am no longer allowed to continue to speak to others at school about what I am going through with the college and this other student or I will be sanctioned.

Last Tuesday, I filed for a temporary sexual assault protection order and the judge granted it to me. She put a stipulation on it that the student was to stay 30 feet away from me while on school grounds and 100 yds off school grounds. Today, the student violated the protection order twice (the second time I had a witness) and was taken into police custody.

My question is, do I have a case here for the discrimination I have experienced? If the formal grievance doesn't go to my advantage, what other options do I have? I have kept a paper trail of all the correspondences that have occured between me and the college staff.

 

[Ozark_Sophist]

It sounds as though you were participating in a TRIO program funded seperately from the school. What specific benefits did you benefit from your participation with the program?

As a victim of a crime, you have experienced discrimination in services. While morally wrong, I am not sure about the legality of that discrimination. If the program is specifically tailored to help students with low GPA and routinely dismiss students with a high GPA, than there is no issue. The TRIO program I have experince with touts high GPA, so I doubt your program has a policy to dismiss students for a high GPA. Hopefully others will post more.

Lastly, refer to thefire.org for additional assistance specifically geared to Higher Education due process and free speech rights. Being restricted from speaking about your concerns may be a violation of your first amendment rights. The staff at thefire respond to emails rather quickly, so drop them a line.

 

[las365]

Also contact the EEOC. From the EEOC website:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) cover all private employers, state and local governments, and education institutions that employ 15 or more individuals.

I'm pretty positive that the protections apply to students as well as employees. I knew someone who was the EEO compliance officer at a community college, and he dealt with complaints from students.

 

[narcosleepygirl]

It sounds as though you were participating in a TRIO program funded seperately from the school. What specific benefits did you benefit from your participation with the program?

As a victim of a crime, you have experienced discrimination in services. While morally wrong, I am not sure about the legality of that discrimination. If the program is specifically tailored to help students with low GPA and routinely dismiss students with a high GPA, than there is no issue. The TRIO program I have experince with touts high GPA, so I doubt your program has a policy to dismiss students for a high GPA. Hopefully others will post more.

Lastly, refer to thefire.org for additional assistance specifically geared to Higher Education due process and free speech rights. Being restricted from speaking about your concerns may be a violation of your first amendment rights. The staff at thefire respond to emails rather quickly, so drop them a line.

I have been receiving personal counseling, academic advice on what classes I need in order to graduate, career advice, assistance in transferring to a university along with trips to local universities, grant opportunities, study space, use of computers and access to tutoring.

I've had a high GPA since I first enrolled with the program and have earned two awards for high academic achievement from the Trio program. The new director (she started a little over a year ago) seems to have an issue with other females as my mom used to do work study in that department and the director has effectively forbidden her to return to work there even though my mom was working under someone else.

Oh, and she told me that she thought I was being dishonest and that was why she wanted to terminate me from the program in front of a staff member from another department.

Thank you for the advice on thefire.org. I will look into that.