Law Prof Files Retaliation Suit Against Florida Law School

A former law professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law has filed a race and sex discrimination suit against the school.

Sherrie Russell-Brown, an African-American, claims in the lawsuit that her problems began after she complained about discrimination at the school, the National Law Journal reports. Russell-Brown says a male colleague angered over her complaints hit her from behind and pushed her into a whiteboard, but he was never disciplined. Other colleagues “completely shunned” Russell-Brown, according to the complaint, and school officials placed her on leave without pay, forcing her to resign at the end of 2007.

The suit alleges several racist incidents. At one faculty meeting, a school official said blacks should not be considered for the position of law school dean because alumni could not relate to them, according to the suit. And a professor at the school referred to a professor candidate of East Asian descent as "Deepak,” even though that wasn’t his name, and said he was from "India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or whatever," the suit says.

Russell-Brown says she previously had stellar reviews and was nominated for professor of the year in 2002 and 2003.

Law school dean Robert Jerry told the Gainesville Sun that the allegations of racial discrimination are unfounded. "We will be responding vigorously” to the suit, he said.

TaxProf Blog posted the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Updated on Feb. 10 to add Dean Robert Jerry's comments to the Gainesville Sun.