Racial bias blocks Black Winthrop staff from department chair promotion, lawsuit claims
A civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court last week claims that a Winthrop University professor who is Black was passed over for a department chair position because of his race.
Willis Lewis, a tenured professor of economics at Winthrop since 2014, said in the lawsuit that his civil rights were violated in 2018 when he was passed over for the accounting, finance and economics department head job in favor of a white candidate.
In a statement sent via email on Wednesday, a Winthrop spokesperson said the university can’t comment on the legal matters inquired about by The Herald.
“Winthrop University has and will continue to take very seriously any complaints of discrimination,” spokesperson Ellen Wilder-Byrd said. “I can say that Winthrop has individuals of color in leadership positions across the campus.”
The lawsuit was filed last Thursday.
The lawsuit states that Lewis wrote to Winthrop’s human resources department in June 2018, approximately three months after he applied for the chair position in March 2018. He requested an investigation into the selection of the department chair position. He claimed, according to the lawsuit, that he was passed over despite having academic qualifications and private sector experience that the white candidate did not have.
Court documents say Winthrop investigated Lewis’ claims in July 2019 and found no wrongdoing.
“Defendant (Winthrop) has a discriminatory custom against Black Department Chairs which calls into question if the investigation was taken seriously and completed thoroughly,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also asserts that Winthrop has a “long-standing custom” of “disfavoring” Black faculty from department chair positions. Winthrop’s faculty is 16.2% Black or African American; only two of 26 department chairs are Black or African American.
Lewis is suing Winthrop for actual damages, consequential damages, punitive damages, back pay, fringe benefits, interests, compensatory damages, attorney’s fees and costs, the lawsuit says.
“All of the actions taken by (Winthrop) … while acting under the color of custom had the effect of depriving (Lewis) of equal rights secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States,” the lawsuit states.
Lewis and his lawyer, Janet Rhodes, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Lewis lawsuit not the first
The racial discrimination action against Winthrop is the second in a year, federal court records show.
In June 2020, Winthrop adjunct professor Troy L. Scarborough, who teaches theater and dance at the school, filed an equal employment lawsuit against Winthrop and the department chair, alleging he was discriminated against on the basis of his race. Scarborough is African-American, according to the lawsuit.
Winthrop “engaged in intentional discriminatory conduct against Scarborough due to his race,” the lawsuit states.
Scarborough alleged in his 2020 lawsuit that he was passed over for consideration for a full-time professor position and treated differently than other candidates because of his race. There were no people of color in the hiring process, Scarborough claimed.
Scarborough, like Lewis, filed the lawsuit after filing a grievance with Winthrop, and court documents revealed that the internal Winthrop review found no evidence of racism in Winthrop’s hiring process. That Scarborough lawsuit against Winthrop remains pending, records show.
Winthrop did not address the Scarborough lawsuit in its statement to The Herald Wednesday.
Per Data USA, Winthrop’s enrolled student population, both undergraduate and graduate, is 41.8% nonwhite — 28.9% of which identifies as Black or African American.
This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 10:15 AM.
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