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Student sues UMKC, professor over use of racial slur
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KANSAS CITY (AP) - A University of Missouri-Kansas City graduate student is suing a professor who she said addressed her in a classroom using a racial slur and other expletives.
The discrimination lawsuit filed by student DeLana Sattarin names sociology and criminal justice professor Peter Singelmann and the University of Missouri System curators as defendants.
Satttarin claims that the January incident led her to drop out of Singelmann's Globalization and Developing Nations class, which resulted in her not having enough credit hours to graduate in May.
In a report compiled by UMKC Affirmative Action Director Grace Hernandez, Singelmann admitted using the racial slur several times during the Jan. 18 class. However, according to the report, he claimed he used the term only to make a point during a discussion with students about free speech.
Singelmann did not return phone calls Thursday left for him by The Associated Press at his office and home.
Sattarin told The Associated Press that she doesn't feel Singelmann has fully acknowledged that his comments were wrong. She said he's never verbally apologized to her directly.
The university has mishandled the situation, too, she said.
“They just tapped his hand and said ‘You did a bad thing. It's OK. You go back in the classroom,' Sattarin said late Thursday afternoon by telephone. “That's not right.”
She said the university would have been harder on a student for using the same language that Singelmann did, and added that UMKC officials should consider firing the professor.
“I don't think sensitivity training is enough for him,” Sattarin said. “He just has this attitude that it's OK and that he can get away with it because he's a tenured professor. I think this lawsuit is making him and the university believers that you can't do this and get away with it.”
According to the lawsuit in Jackson County Circuit Court, a lecture on totalitarian and authoritarian societies led to a discussion about the Patriot Act.
Sattarin, who is black, commented that the act should never have been passed because she felt it violated people's rights.
The lawsuit claims that Singelmann reluctantly agreed with Sattarin and then took his comments further, using the racial slur three times and following up with other expletives.
“I was really humiliated, because he did this in front of nine other students,” Sattarin told the AP.
Only one of the other students was black, she said. The rest were white.
Sattarin filed a complaint with the university. At least two of her classmates also wrote letters complaining about the incident. An investigation by Hernandez, the affirmative action director, followed.
The discrimination lawsuit filed by student DeLana Sattarin names sociology and criminal justice professor Peter Singelmann and the University of Missouri System curators as defendants.
Satttarin claims that the January incident led her to drop out of Singelmann's Globalization and Developing Nations class, which resulted in her not having enough credit hours to graduate in May.
In a report compiled by UMKC Affirmative Action Director Grace Hernandez, Singelmann admitted using the racial slur several times during the Jan. 18 class. However, according to the report, he claimed he used the term only to make a point during a discussion with students about free speech.
Singelmann did not return phone calls Thursday left for him by The Associated Press at his office and home.
Sattarin told The Associated Press that she doesn't feel Singelmann has fully acknowledged that his comments were wrong. She said he's never verbally apologized to her directly.
The university has mishandled the situation, too, she said.
“They just tapped his hand and said ‘You did a bad thing. It's OK. You go back in the classroom,' Sattarin said late Thursday afternoon by telephone. “That's not right.”
She said the university would have been harder on a student for using the same language that Singelmann did, and added that UMKC officials should consider firing the professor.
“I don't think sensitivity training is enough for him,” Sattarin said. “He just has this attitude that it's OK and that he can get away with it because he's a tenured professor. I think this lawsuit is making him and the university believers that you can't do this and get away with it.”
According to the lawsuit in Jackson County Circuit Court, a lecture on totalitarian and authoritarian societies led to a discussion about the Patriot Act.
Sattarin, who is black, commented that the act should never have been passed because she felt it violated people's rights.
The lawsuit claims that Singelmann reluctantly agreed with Sattarin and then took his comments further, using the racial slur three times and following up with other expletives.
“I was really humiliated, because he did this in front of nine other students,” Sattarin told the AP.
Only one of the other students was black, she said. The rest were white.
Sattarin filed a complaint with the university. At least two of her classmates also wrote letters complaining about the incident. An investigation by Hernandez, the affirmative action director, followed.
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justin wrote on Sep 14, 2007 8:45 AM: