Ohio’s Kent State University is at the center of a recently filed federal gender discrimination lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by the university’s only open transgender professor. According to the professor, the university violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

GPat Patterson is an assistant professor at Kent State’s English Department who filed a federal discrimination lawsuit in Akron early last week. Patterson is a transgender individual and uses they/them pronouns. According to the lawsuit, it is because of Patterson’s gender identity that a job promotion and relocation offer was rescinded.

The lawsuit explains that on November 20, 2020, the Director of the university’s Center for Sexuality and Gender Studies (‘CSGS’), Dr. Molly Merryman, informed Dr. Patterson that she had recommended Dr. Patterson to Dean Mandy Munro-Stasiuk to take over her position as Director of the CSGS.

Dr. Patterson was also informed by Dr. Merryman that Dean Munro-Stasiuk was going to ask Dr. Patterson to serve on the Steering Committee for the CSGS Program.

During an April email conversation between Dr. Patterson and Dean Munro-Stasiuk, Munro-Stasiuk proposed cutting Dr. Patterson's teaching workload in half to accommodate their new role. This unloading of teaching duties would allow Dr. Patterson to “focus their work on building the CSGS academic degree proposal, and the CSGS Program itself,” according to the lawsuit.

In early June, the Director of the School of Multidisciplinary Social Sciences and Humanities, Julie Mazzei, informed Dr. Patterson that the promotion that was promised by the Dean had been rescinded. The lawsuit explains that an individual who has not been named had expressed that they were worried that Dr. Patterson's appointment to the new role would “erase women in the WGS curriculum.” The lawsuit outlines that the concern brought forward by the unspecified individual was the reason the promotion was rescinded.

The lawsuit alleges that when Dr. Patterson tried to confront the Dean about the rescinded offer, they were retaliated against. The alleged retaliation took the form of rescinding the offer to cut Dr. Patterson’s teaching load by half. Dr. Patterson was also allegedly stripped of their remaining leadership roles.

Dr. Patterson’s lawsuit also alleges that the university’s committees voted to deny requests Dr. Patterson made about transferring to the Kent Campus. The lawsuit explains that the committee members did not sign their votes, nor did they justify their decision in writing to deny the request as required by the university’s collective bargaining agreement.

Dr. Patterson was hired by the university in 2018 and was put on a tenure track. The university still employs Dr. Patterson.

As part of the suit, Dr. Patterson is seeking a judgment for declaratory and injunctive relief. Dr. Patterson is also seeking compensatory damages including back pay, emotional distress, statutory damages, and others.