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A former employee of Texas Christian University has sued the university, alleging that “institutional racism” led to her termination last year, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Linda Lopez, who worked in TCU’s advancement department, alleges that the university fired her in February 2021 because she is Hispanic. She was told she was being laid off because of budget cuts, but just a month earlier she’d been informed that her department faced no budget cuts and would not be letting anyone go, according to the lawsuit.
TCU is “permeated with an ethic of white elitism that has long discouraged the equal participation of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and other minorities in university life,” Lopez’s lawyer said in the suit.
Lopez worked at TCU for 13 years and was described as a “rock star” in one employee review, the lawsuit says.
She was laid off after complaining about the way her supervisor treated her. According to the lawsuit, he “chastised Lopez for taking time for bereavement leave to comfort her children whose father had died.” The suit also alleges that Lopez faced tougher scrutiny of her work than her white colleagues.
TCU told the Star-Telegram it was preparing a statement but was not ready to comment on the case.
