The court’s decision outlined a series of conflicts that “began as soon as Weatherford College hired” Dr. Karen Lopez Austen as a professor and department chair in 2007 and continued until her contract wasn’t renewed in 2010.
As examples:
· The assistant men’s basketball coach complained that Austen “made improper comments regarding his physique, initiated confrontations with him and often secretly took photographs of him as he was working out.”
· A department secretary told police that Austen behaved inappropriately by inviting the secretary’s daughter to her office, showing inappropriate photos and asking to measure the daughter with a measuring tape.
· An internal complaint by the same secretary accused Austen of belittling, threatening and stalking her and creating “an unrelenting hostile work environment on a daily basis.”
Later, the college’s athletic director “reported concerns regarding Austen’s aggressive and confrontational treatment” of a different secretary, and Austen’s dean reprimanded her for not following the college’s purchasing policy, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.
