U.S. District Judge John Froeschner held that College of the Mainland in Texas City had demonstrated non-discriminatory reasons why it didn’t renew Manzurul Khan’s contract.
Khan joined the faculty in 2003 as a part-time adjunct instructor and moved to a full-time tenure-stream position in the Department of Business and Computer Technology five years later, according to the decision.
A 2010 internal audit discovered that several instructors, including Khan and his White department chair, lacked credentials required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to teach certain courses. The audit addressed those instructors’ credentials, not their qualifications, the decision said.
In 2011, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board ordered the college to discontinue two “low-producing” computer-related degree programs, including one that Khan taught in. As part of its compliance, the college decided to eliminate one full-time position in the department.
The college didn’t renew Khan’s position when his contract expired but did keep two other non-tenured full-time faculty members, both White. All three had master’s degrees, but the other two had degrees that allowed them to teach twice the number of courses than Kahn could.
Kahn’s Section 1981 and Title VII suit alleged discrimination based on his Asian race and his national origin.
