University of Wisconsin leaders are accused of discriminating against a white DEI staffer in a new lawsuit as leading state lawmakers call for greater scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Rochelle Hoffman, a former assistant director of the Multicultural Student Services at the UW-Eau Claire campus, alleged administrators discriminated against her because she is white and later retaliated against her when she complained about harassment, according to the lawsuit, filed Dec. 14.
Hoffman, in a May email to Wisconsin Sen. Patrick Testin, said the public university has become a “hostile environment,” and there are “blatant actions of racial discrimination against white folks” like herself.
“On a regular basis there are great educators that are told they shouldn’t occupy multicultural space, to check their white privilege, passed over for jobs for an outside candidate of color, and reminded they are ‘inherently racist’ because they are white,” she wrote.