Dr. Damien Ejigiri, Former Dean of Southern University, Files Discrimination Lawsuit After Demotion

Dr. Damien Ejigiri, former Southern University Dean, files lawsuit after demotion and reduction in pay. Claims bias against him because he is a native of Nigeria.

Former Southern University Dean Damien Ejigiri has sued the university's leadership and its Board of Supervisors for discrimination and for wrongful "demotion" and reduction in pay.Ejigiri, who reportedly started in 2009 as dean of the university's Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy of Urban Affairs and he also briefly served as dean of the Graduate School. According to the Times-Picayune, he is now back to tenured professor status with a pay cut from $110,054 a year to $77,036.74. He is currently on extended medical leave.

The lawsuit alleges the Southern Board and administration interim President Kassie Freeman, Chancellor Kofi Lomotey and Provost Mwalimu Shujaa conspired to deprive Ejigiri of his legal equal protection because he is a native of Nigeria. "In furtherance of this conspiracy, defendants demoted plaintiff and reduced his salary by 30 percent without cause," the suit claims.

Southern's legal response argues that the pay cut is not a reduction in pay, but a reduction in work because moving from dean to professor entails switching from a 12-month employee to a nine-month employee. Southern also argues Ejigiri's move was not a demotion because deans serve at the will of the chancellor.

"His allegations that there was some sort of conspiracy or some sort of national origin discrimination are very inaccurate," Southern attorney Winston DeCuir Sr. said Thursday. "There's no ill intent toward him."

"Dr. Ejigiri became a dean three administrations ago," DeCuir added. "It is not unusual that, as administrations change, the hierarchy of the administration changes." Ejigiri also alleges his medical leave request in July was manipulated after it was approved to extend the amount of his leave and to reduce his medical leave pay down to professor's pay. Source: Times-Picayune

Blah, blah, blah. He is screaming over a $30,000+ pay reduction? Give me a break. There are many people in the United States and his native Nigeria who would be happy to have a job. The notion that the school would discriminate against him because he was a native of Nigeria is laughable. I am tired of people like Dr. Ejigiri screaming discrimination. The man is educated, so he can easily get another job at another institution of higher learning. Blah, blah, blah.

Photo credit: Dr. Damien Ejigiri, Times-Picayune