3 Women Sue Alabama State U., Saying It Condoned Harassment

March 11, 2010
Chronicle of Higher Education
By Andrea Fuller

Three women who say they experienced sexual and racial harassment on their jobs at Alabama State University have filed a federal lawsuit against the institution. They have named John F. Knight Jr., a top university administrator and state legislator, among the defendants.

The complaints date back to 2008, when all three women worked in the Office of the Special Assistant to the President. Mr. Knight was special assistant to the president and executive director for marketing and communications at the time. He is now the university's executive vice president and chief operating officer.

The women—Jacqueline Weatherly, Cynthia Williams, and Lydia Burkhalter—contend in their lawsuit, filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Ala., that the university intentionally discriminated against them on the basis of their race and gender.

The plaintiffs say that they were repeatedly harassed by Lavonette Bartley, who worked under Mr. Knight, and sometimes by Mr. Knight himself. Ms. Bartley created a hostile work environment, they allege, by frequently using offensive racial and sexual language, and making sexually suggestive comments.

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