McALLEN, Texas — A lawsuit filed in federal court by three female professors claims that university officials are looking into establishing a bilingual university with course credit classes in Spanish and hiring only Spanish-speaking professors. The three professors claimed to have been racially discriminated against because they are not Hispanic — one is of African origin, while the other two are Asian.
In the lawsuit, professors Aje-Ori Agbese, Minhee Eom, and Wa-Lin Chang claimed that despite highly successful careers in Academia, each with various awards and recognitions, the leadership at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) passed them over for promotions and punished them for not being Hispanic and Spanish speakers.
UTRGV Lawsuit
Lawyers representing the three professors filed the lawsuit this week in federal court in McAllen, Texas. The professors claim that UTRGV Provost Luis Zayas discriminated against them and favored Spanish-speaking individuals. One professor is from Nigeria, one from South Korea, and one from Taiwan.
In the lawsuit, the lawyers quote Zayas as having said during a speech that his vision was to “become an authentically bilingual, bicultural and biliterate institution.”
As part of the vision, the university would move to courses taught in Spanish or partly in Spanish, which they claim goes against Title VII. None of the three professors speaks Spanish. The lawsuit mentions an internal memo in which Zayas was working to create a Spanish-language mass media and journalism undergraduate program.
All three university hires claimed that Zayas turned down their promotions based on race and ethnic background, not academic merit.
The professors are asking for a jury trial, but a date for future hearings has not been announced. UTRGV has not filed a response to the claims.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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