Former grad student sues UNC over race discrimination
A former graduate student of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against the school and three of her teachers for racial discrimination and retaliation.
Rose Brown's attorneys said she was the only Black female in the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School's Ph.D. program. The lawsuit alleges Brown was forced out of the program due to her race and gender.
Attorney Artur Davis told WRAL News, "She was asked to leave because a month earlier she had filed a complaint about a pattern of what she perceived and experienced to be discrimination and roadblocks being put in her path at every turn because of her race. So, at the end of the day, this suit is being filed to hold one of the most powerful institutions in the state of North Carolina accountable for not giving her a fair chance.”
According to the lawsuit, Brown enrolled in Kenan's organizational behavior program in 2020.
The lawsuit states she "was subjected to a double standard motivated by a combination of her race and gender and when she had the audacity to complain, defendants aggressively wrecked her professional standing."
The lawsuit states that one year into the program, Brown was "abruptly" told she had no future" at Kenan and "would be terminated from the Ph.D. Program, consigned to a Masters’ Degree instead of a doctorate."
However, Brown was told at the same time she was in good academic standing, according to the lawsuit, which also alleges her teachers used deadline extensions they granted her to argue against her academic performance.
Brown reported three professors and teachers named in the lawsuit to Kenan's diversity and inclusion program in June 2021 after one "belittled her competence and her suitability for the Ph.D. Program, telling Ms. Brown 'you are not as competent as we thought you were.'" Brown also asserts she was denied research opportunities given to white students.
When Brown reported her teachers, they retaliated against her by terminating her from the Ph.D. Program and saying negative things about her to the other programs she applied to, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Brown wants to "recover damages under federal and North Carolina law for the mental anguish, severe emotional distress, financial loss, and pain and suffering she has endured."
She is now enrolled in a doctorate program at Cornell, her lawyer told WRAL News.
"It's very important to note, this is not someone who was failing or struggling and looking for an excuse. This is someone who was thriving and succeeding and still asked to leave. That's wrong, that's highly suspicious and that's the basis for this lawsuit," he said.
