2 Jewish Professors Sue Boston-Area College for ‘Discrimination’
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Two Jewish professors have filed federal complaints against their Boston-area college alleging anti-Semitic discrimination.
The educators from Wheelock College, a small liberal arts school, filed the complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week, the Boston Globe reported Sunday.
Eric Silverman and Gail Dines allege in the complaint that Wheelock’s president, Jackie Jenkins-Scott, and other administrators made their work lives miserable after they and four other professors spoke out in a 2014 letter about a lack of Jewish perspective on campus, the newspaper reported. The complaint seeks unspecified damages and attorney’s fees.
Silverman is a professor of American studies and psychology and human development who has taught at Wheelock since 2006. Dines is a professor of sociology and women’s studies professor and chairwoman of American studies at the college since 1986. Both have tenure.
Wheelock denies the claims, calling them “without merit,” according to the Globe.
The college, with an undergraduate student population of 811, has been struggling financially. Jenkins-Scott is scheduled to leave at the end of the academic semester in May; the university is conducting a search for her successor.
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