Affirmative action director charges Pitt-Johnstown president with discrimination, harassment and retaliation
JOHNSTOWN, Pa.
According to the University of
Pittsburgh-Johnstown’s affirmative action director, the institution’s
president told her that he did not believe in affirmative action and
would do everything possible to avoid implementing its principles.
Ensuing events have led Clea Patrick Hollis to U.S. District Court,
where she is suing the school and its president, Dr. Albert L.
Etheridge, for race and sex discrimination. The suit contends that
Hollis was harassed, isolated, and excluded from functions at the
southwestern Pennsylvania branch of the University of Pittsburgh as a
way tv) prevent her from doing her job.
Hollis is seeking compensation for lost earnings, damages for
emotional distress, and legal fees. She is also seeking punitive
damages. On the advice of her attorneys, she has refused to comment
publicly on the suit.
In the lawsuit, Hollis said she was demoted from the university
cabinet to a mid-level administrator, and her position was reduced from
full- to part-time. The three-count civil action charges Etheridge and
the university with sex discrimination in hiring; race discrimination
in employment; and retaliatory harassment, deprivation of civil rights
and sex discrimination in employment; and sexual harassment and
retaliation.
Etheridge refused to comment on the allegations. Ron Cichowicz,
assistant news and information director for the University of
Pittsburgh system, said attorneys had not been served and could not
comment on the matter.
Perceptions and Realities
