Southeastern Oklahoma State University must reinstate a transgender professor who was fired in 2011

An Oklahoma college has to reinstate a transgender professor with tenure after she was fired when one of many college’s VPs complained her ‘way of life’ was offensive to his non secular beliefs, a decide has dominated.

The tenth US Circuit dominated in Rachel Tudor’s favor on Monday, stating that Southeastern Oklahoma State University must reinstate the transgender professor who was fired in 2011 after a criticism relating to her gender identification.

An HR consultant referred to as to tell Tudor, an English professor on the time, that the college’s former Vice President of Academic Affairs Douglas McMillian wished her fired as a result of her way of life went towards his non secular beliefs, in response to NY Daily News. 

Former VP of Academic Affairs Douglas McMillian (pictured) complained to an HR consultant in 2009 

At the time of her firing, Tudor had been up for tenure, which might have given her a safe job for the rest of her profession. 

But she was denied tenure in fall 2009, in response to court docket data, and fired the next the 2010-11 educational yr. 

The US Department of Justice sued on Tudor’s behalf for discrimination on the premise of intercourse in 2015. 

In 2017, the professor was awarded $1.16million for being wrongly denied tenure, however was stripped of the complete quantity of her reward in the next yr. 

US District Judge Robin Cauthron in Oklahoma City decrease the awarded quantity to a mere $300,000. He cited a state caps underneath Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Businesses with greater than 500 staff are capped at a $300,000 payout. 

In addition, she acquired $60,000 for misplaced earnings. Tudor had requested greater than $2million for future earnings. 

That decide additionally denied her request to be reinstated on the college, as there have been claims that different members of workers had been towards her return. 

Southeastern Oklahoma State University was discovered to have wrongfully fired Tudor on the premise of intercourse discrimination by a tenth Circuit appellate decide 

The college went on to attraction the choice, and Tudor appealed the reinstatement denial and misplaced wages. 

Tudor will go on to turn into the primary tenured Native American professor in her division at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. 

In a assertion attributed to her, it stated: ‘She’s] trying ahead to being the primary tenured Native American professor in her division in the 100-plus yr historical past of the Native American-serving establishment that’s Southeastern Oklahoma State University.’ 

The decide additionally dominated that her misplaced wages be recalculated, in response to Tulsa World.