Former U. of Oklahoma Dean Sues President, Provost, and University for Bias and Free-Speech Violation

Caitlyn Epes/OU Daily

A former dean of international studies at the University of Oklahoma sued the university’s president, provost, and Board of Regents on Friday, saying they paid her less because she’s a woman and retaliated against her for speaking her mind.

Suzette R. Grillot’s complaints against the administration drew national attention in January when she was videotaped confronting and demanding the resignation of James L. Gallogly, Oklahoma’s president, during a heated rally to protest racism.

The event was held after viral videos showed two people in blackface — at least one of whom was a University of Oklahoma student. Gallogly, a former oil-industry executive who became president of the university in July, had condemned the behavior and asked his critics to give him a chance to heal the campus. Still, some, including Grillot, felt his actions didn’t go far enough.

The rally took place less than two weeks after the provost told Grillot that the College of International Studies’ budget was being cut 47 percent over the previous year’s budget, the complaint states. Among the areas being slashed was a program that allows an exchange of students between Oklahoma and Brazil. Grillot contends that the president and provost “disapprove of the practice of university moneys benefiting foreign nationals who are also members of a minority race and ethnicity,” the complaint says.

Her public scolding of the president at the campus rally was only the latest of many clashes between Grillot and administrators since December 2017, according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court. In each case in which she criticized the administration for pay inequities and other problems, she wrote, she was engaging “in protected speech on matters of public concern.”

Nevertheless, she contends, the university retaliated against her by demoting her from her positions as dean of the College of International Studies, vice provost for international programs, and the William J. Crowe Jr. chair in geopolitics.

Her lawsuit against Gallogly, Provost Jon Kyle Harper, and the regents, seeks at least $75,000 in damages.

A university spokeswoman said she could not comment because the institution had not yet been served with a copy of the complaint. Once that happens, she wrote in an email, the university will file court documents that will show that it “acted appropriately and fulfilled its responsibility to treat all of its employees fairly and equitably.”

Grillot, who is also a tenured faculty member in the department of international and area studies, said she was paid less than deans with similar or less responsibility and subjected to a hostile work environment because of her gender. Harper dismissed her as dean on January 18, she wrote.

Her dealings with the administration had been tense for months. Last July, the president loudly reprimanded her for making public certain fiscal information that he said she wasn’t in a position to understand, according to the complaint. Grillot was upset, she said, because she felt her college had been unfairly targeted for budget cuts.

During that meeting, the president said such things as “You wouldn’t understand the budget even if I showed it to you. You are just an academic. You just study the world. I have worked around the world. My passport is twice as thick as yours,” the lawsuit states.

In the following months, the lawsuit says, colleagues and members of the public told her that Gallogly was “indirectly and directly referring to her as emotional, unprofessional, overreactive and not to be trusted.”

In a news conference she posted to her Facebook page on Friday, Grillot also cited the university’s “failure to support and provide a safe and inclusive environment for people of color and other minorities” and a “culture of fear enforced by retaliation and adversarial treatment” against those who speak out against injustices.

She said she hopes the lawsuit will lift the fear of retaliation that has prevented whistle-blowing and free speech at Oklahoma. Of the administration’s critics, she said, “We’re not going anywhere and we cannot and will not be silenced.”

Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.