Sujit Choudhry, the former University of California at Berkeley Law School dean who was sued in March for sexual harassment has filed a suit against school officials alleging that he is being singled out because of his race.
Choudhry was accused of sexual harassment by his former executive assistant Tyann Sorrell, who alleged in a lawsuit filed in March that he kissed her and touched her once he became dean. Now, in a lawsuit filed Thursday, Choudhry is alleging that his legal troubles at his former employer are a result of his race and not the sexual misconduct that he was accused of and actually admitted to, as reported by UC Berkeley’s student newspaper, The Daily Californian.
The Guardian reports:
Sujit Choudhry says in a federal discrimination lawsuit filed Thursday in San Francisco that the University of California has treated white faculty members and administrators found to have committed sexual misconduct more leniently while threatening him with a campus ban and loss of tenure.
The lawsuit specifically names UC president Janet Napolitano, who had called for a second hearing against Choudhry, which could have led to his being fired. The San Jose Mercury-News reports that the lawsuit alleges that Napolitano “chose to use the case of Sujit Choudhry … as a means to try to improve the University’s image as well as her own.” His initial punishment was a 10 percent salary cut, which many felt was too lenient. The lawsuit that Choudhry filed today in San Francisco claims that he was unfairly targeted because of his race.
From The Daily Californian:
“By targeting Professor Choudhry, who is of South Asian descent and a non-U.S. citizen, the University hopes to deflect attention from its failure to meaningfully punish Caucasian faculty and administrators who were found to have committed appalling sexual misconduct, and from the fact that it deserted Ms. Sorrell.”
Choudhry returned to the law school this month, but is not teaching.
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