New Jersey Prof Files Racial Discrimination Lawsuit, Claims Less-Qualified Black Colleagues Are Paid More

A white science professor at a New Jersey community college filed a racial discrimination lawsuit alleging that his less-qualified black colleagues are being paid more than him. 

According to a nine-page lawsuit reviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, chemistry professor William T. Lavell has alleged “stark racial disparities” in compensation between himself and two black professors. The lawsuit also alleges “severe emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, and loss of self-esteem.”

Lavell has been a professor at Camden County College for 25 years and holds three professional degrees. Engineering professors Melvin Roberts, who holds two professional degrees, and Lawrence Chatman, who holds one professional degree, are both paid significantly more than Lavell. 

The lawsuit claims that Robert’s salary for 2021 was $142,600, Chatman’s salary for 2020 was $137,157, meanwhile Lavell’s salary for 2021 was $91,923. 

After uncovering the financial discrepancies, Lavell filed a discrimination complaint with the college’s president Donald Borden and other school administrators. He asked for his salary to align with his nonwhite counterparts but was denied a salary increase. 

According to the lawsuit, Lavell, 66, was hired by the school in 1995 and served as a professor, a department chairman, and a dean. In 2016, he was named the interim dean of the school’s math, science, and health careers division. 

In light of the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd, colleges and universities across the nation have taken measures to rectify alleged racial injustices. For example, Georgetown University donated $1 million to a racial reparations organization as part of their commitment to atone for slavery. 

The Daily Wire reported: 

The New York Times announced that a Catholic order pledged to raise $100 million for the descendants of slaves once owned by Georgetown University via a new foundation. In an email obtained by The Daily Wire, Georgetown’s president announced that the school contributed $1 million to “support the planning and assistance necessary to create the framework and structure for the Foundation.” 

Race-based hiring has made its way to the K-12 public school system as well. According to an equity plan from a public elementary school district in Litchfield, Arizona, the school district will hire staff based on race. 

The school district claimed that it will create “target diversity percentages for ethnicity, race, and gender in all three areas of this goal” — recruiting, hiring, and retaining. The district also plans to modify its disciplinary rules to take race into account when punishing children.  

In Oregon, school districts must use a merit-based system when making staff reduction decisions, unless the merit-based system interferes with the school’s “diversity ratio.” According to a new bill introduced in the Oregon state legislature, school districts that plan on making a reduction in education staff positions must retain teachers with “less seniority” if that teacher has more “merit” and “if retention of [the] teacher is necessary to maintain [the] school district’s diversity ratio.” 

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