A former employee of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday accusing the school of racial discrimination when it fired her last year.
The employee, Linda Lopez, worked for TCU for 13 years in the advancement department, which is involved in fundraising, according to the complaint.
“TCU has been permeated with an ethic of white elitism that has long discouraged the equal participation of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and other racial minorities in university life at all levels,” attorney Jason Smith wrote in the complaint.
A TCU spokesperson said the private university typically does not comment on lawsuits.
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Lopez, who is Hispanic, was a “rock star,” according to one evaluation by a former supervisor, the complaint said.
But after she took medical leave in January 2020, she began to receive “unwarranted criticisms,” according to the lawsuit.
Lopez seeks money for lost wages, mental anguish, and other damages.
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The claim comes months after TCU settled a separate racial discrimination lawsuit filed by a former Black honors student. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
