LAS VEGAS, N.M.
A former assistant chemistry professor who was denied tenure at New Mexico Highlands University has sued the school, alleging the tenure denial was because he isn’t Hispanic.
Dr. David Wiedenfeld, who now teaches at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., alleges unlawful termination, discrimination on the basis of race and national origin and “perceived as” religious discrimination. He says Highlands officials thought he was Jewish, although he isn’t.
He is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Santa Fe. The defendants are the school’s regents, former Highlands president Manny M. Aragon and the university’s former interim provost, Dr. Janice Chavez.
Highlands’ acting president, Dr. Manuel Pacheco, told the Associated Press he had not seen the lawsuit and had no comment.
Javier M. Gonzales, chairman of the board of regents, also said he had not seen the lawsuit, but that the university provost had been trying to resolve Wiedenfeld’s concerns.
Wiedenfeld, who had taught at Highlands since the fall of 2001, was one of four White professors who was denied tenure in February 2005. Aragon recommended the denial, and the regents approved it.
