ABA Censures Texas Southern Law School Following Gender Discrimination Complaint By Associate Dean

• ABA, Public Notice of Council Decision to Censure Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshal School of Law and Direct it to Take Remedial Action (Standards 104, 205(b))
• ABA, Public Notice of Council Decision to Direct Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law to Take Remedial Action (Standards 301(a), 309(b), and 501(b); Interpretations 501-1 and 501-2)
• Complaint, Jackson v. Texas Southern University, No. 4:16-cv-01123 (U.S. District Court, S.D. Tex. (Apr. 25, 2016)

Texas Lawyer, ABA Fines, Publicly Censures Law School for Noncompliance With Anti-Discrimination Standard:

Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law was publicly censured and must pay $15,000 for not complying with an American Bar Association standard that prohibits schools from discriminating against faculty members.

In the public censure, the ABA's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar also found Thurgood Marshall Law violated an ABA standard requiring schools to file complete, accurate, and not misleading information to the ABA each year. In a second matter, the ABA section ordered remedial actions that raise questions about the school's legal education program, academic support for students and its admissions practices.

James Douglas, interim dean of Thurgood Marshall Law, denied that there is sex discrimination or sexual harassment happening at the school.

"There were people who said, 'I think that there is sexual discrimination in the law school.' But no one has been able to find that to be a fact. The allegation and what the ABA is critical of is that that is what some of the females believe, and because some of the females believe it, we have an obligation to deal with it," Douglas said. "They did not find that there was any truthfulness to the allegation, just the fact that the allegations existed and we didn't respond in a manner they though the law school should have responded."

The finding of noncompliance with the ABA's anti-discrimination standard comes out at a time that Texas Southern University is defending a lawsuit by a law professor and associate dean who claimed she was paid less, denied a promotion, stripped of supervisory authority and retaliated against daily.

ABA Journal, Texas Southern's Law School Receives ABA Public Censure After Sex Discrimination Allegations