Former DEI Director at U Michigan Alleges Discrimination in Firing
Dawson “was accused of making antisemitic remarks at an academic conference in March 2024.”
As you’ll read below, Rachel Dawson, a former DEI administrator at the University of Michigan, was fired for allegedly making some inexcusable remarks.
The Detroit Free Press reports:
Former DEI administrator sues University of Michigan, alleges discrimination in firing
A Black woman who ran the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives is suing the University of Michigan, claiming racial and gender discrimination in her firing.
The school fired Rachel Dawson in December after she was accused of making antisemitic remarks at an academic conference in March 2024.
Two conference attendees claim Dawson said words to the effect of: “The university is controlled by wealthy Jews” and “We don’t work with Jews. They are wealthy and privileged and they take care of themselves.”
Dawson denies making any such remarks and said the university treated her differently based on her race and gender.
“I am aware of several non-Black employees of the university who have been the subject of similar complaints about their behavior, and none have been terminated,” Dawson wrote in a statement to the school before her disciplinary hearing. “The allegations against me illustrate how racial and gender biases can shape the interpretation of events and statements, especially for Black woman in positions of authority.”
The school denies any wrongdoing.
“Rachel Dawson was appropriately terminated from her employment at the University of Michigan,” school spokeswoman Kay Jarvis told the Free Press in an email last month when Dawson filed a notice of intent to sue. “We will vigorously defend this matter.”
Dawson filed the lawsuit in federal court and noted in it that she also intends to pursue a state court claim of discrimination.
Dawson said she remembered talking with the two women who accused her, but her recollection of the conversation was far different. She said that when the two women heard she was from U-M, they approached her to discuss rumors of antisemitism on campus. Dawson said she told them that the school was doing its best to combat antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.
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Comments
sue her back and claw back her pay from the beginning
Angry fat black woman shrieks about racism and gender discrimination. When DEI is all you know and is responsible for your entire life it’s not surprising that your immediate goto is DEI discrimination.
When your argument leads with referring to her as an “angry, fat, black woman”, it detracts from your position that she is wrong that they may have looked at her differently because of her race and gender…
I don’t give a shiest.
She should just accept that job at the DMV or the WIC office and be quiet.
ahahahhaaaa
This is a highly factual case, and it is impossible to know which side should win based on the information we have.
Assuming the alleged statement is the real reason the employee was fired, the fact finder will have to review the evidence presented and will decide if the employee actually said what is alleged.
If the allegations are found credible, then other examples of misconduct and the punishment will need to be reviewed for consistency.
This litigation could take years and years.
“I am aware of several non-Black employees of the university who have been the subject of similar complaints about their behavior, and none have been terminated,”
so why doesn’t the university go ahead and fire them too? Pro-Palestinians are protected?
If true, that is a good question!
I now think that anyone who confronts members of academia needs to wear a bodycam just like the po po.. Nothing like video evidence to counter the “he ain’t got no gun” when 99.9% of the time he did. Of course, as we all know, it won’t help with some where ideology trumps cold hard facts and evidence.
I also was hopeful that the widespread use of video evidence would nail some of these progressive racists. However, looks like they are just going to dismiss the proof as being “misleading excerpts taken out of context” or as “obvious deepfakes created by fascist sympathizers”. In psychiatric terminology we define a delusion as a “fixed false belief” that persists regardless of any evidence to the contrary. People with pervasive delusions are diagnosed as psychotic, and those so afflicted are at greater risk for responding with violence when confronted. Leftist leadership is dominated by demagogues who define truth as being whatever is politically expedient, but they are recruiting and grooming followers who are unhinged enough to act out on this insanity.