HOUSTON – A local law school employee said she was singled out, harassed and discriminated against simply because she is white.
Patricia Garrison is the assistant dean of academic support at Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
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Garrison claims that law school Dean Dannye Holley has done everything he can to try and get her to quit, including removing a number of Garrison's job duties, failing to give her assignments and taking away her authority in dealing with subordinates.
Employment attorney Scott Lemond said proving discrimination in these kinds of cases can be difficult. She has to prove that the only reason things were done was because she's white and it had nothing to do with her performance or anything else.
Garrison started working for TSU in 2007. She was hired by a former dean. She claims it was after that dean left and Holley took over in 2009 that the problems began.
No one from TSU would comment about the lawsuit, but it argued in court that Garrison is still being paid and has not been fired.
Texas Southern University is a predominantly black university, but, according to its website, just over 30 percent of the school's law professors are white or Hispanic.
TSU tried to get this suit thrown out, but a judge said he will hear it. Garrison's attorney said she will start depositions in December.