A black Texas Christian University student filed a federal lawsuit in Dallas claiming she was “dehumanized, harassed and discriminated against” over two years.
The 20-year-old student from Oklahoma is identified in the lawsuit only as Jane Doe.
The woman said when she arrived on campus in January 2018 she found her white roommate “had taken all available closet, desk and common space in the room to herself” and refused to move any of her belongings, the lawsuit said. The university responded, “What’s wrong with that?” but later moved her to another room, the lawsuit said.
Doe, an honors student, claimed she was given a job in the Honors College and was paid $7.50 per hour while white coworkers earned $9.50.
While taking a summer class in Washington D.C., Doe said she was harassed by administrators who ignored her complaints.
She said the only two black students in the Washington program were “made to sleep on sofa beds” with no access to a bathroom while their white counterparts were “provided with hotel-quality queen beds.”
When she complained about being bitten by bed bugs, an administrator told her, “bugs live inside too,” according to the suit.
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Doe, who had a 4.0 grade point average in a school before transferring to TCU, also said she was later accused of plagiarism.
The lawsuit broadly accuses TCU of being “bigoted, narrow-minded and hypocritical in its treatment of racial minorities.”
“In every decade since its founding, there has been clear evidence of the pervasiveness of TCU’s hatred of racial minorities and women,” the lawsuit said.
TCU responded to the lawsuit late Wednesday.
“Like many universities in the country, TCU has a complex history that we are taking an active approach to examining and understanding,” the university said in a statement. “Today, TCU is focused on creating a respectful and inclusive community for all students.”
The statement said the facts of the case are still under review.
“At this time, the University's main priority is to ensure our student's success and to investigate the student's complaint,” the university said. “If we discover that any of these allegations are accurate, we are committed to addressing them.”
The lawsuit was first reported by TCU’s online student newspaper TCU360.com.
