ASU job-seeker files discrimination suit

montgomeryadvertiser.com
October 22, 2009
By Jill Nolin

Gayle H. Gear, a potential candidate for president of Alabama State University before the university stopped the process and named interim president William H. Harris to the position, has filed a federal court suit against ASU, alleging racial and sexual discrimination.
The lawsuit, naming ASU and its board of trustees as defendants, asks the court to restore Harris to the position of interim and to continue the search until the search committee can properly select a president.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, claims that Gear, who is white, "is a racial minority as defined by ASU."
It also claims that the university created a presidential search committee as a pretext and that the committee violated both the university's Affirmative Action Plan and internal employment policies when it never advertised for the position before appointing the new president.
After the Montgomery Advertiser faxed a copy of the lawsuit to ASU spokesman Kenneth Mullinax on Wednesday afternoon, he declined to comment. A phone call made to ASU Board Chairman Elton Dean was not returned Wednesday evening.
The suit says that Gear had sent written correspondence and her resume to Harris, who was then interim president, on June 19, 2009. The search was ultimately halted, and Harris was named president of the historically black college.
"To date, Dr. Gear has received no response to her request to be considered as a candidate for the position of president," the lawsuit states.

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