Former dean sues Southside Virginia Community College over claims of discrimination

A former dean at Southside Virginia Community College alleges in a federal lawsuit that she was fired because she was the only Black female administrator at the school.

The suit filed by Charletta Barringer-Brown, who led the humanities, social sciences and business department at SVCC from December 2022 to September 2023, makes claims of discrimination, retaliation and defamation and seeks a total of $3 million in damages.

In the federal suit, which was filed in late June in the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond, Barringer-Brown claims administrators at SVCC treated her differently than they did white deans at the school, and falsified an evaluation in order to push her out. She is representing herself.

“I look forward to shedding light on the issues and having an opportunity to defend my civil rights in court,” she said by email Friday.

When asked to comment on the case, SVCC deferred to the state community college system. Spokesperson Jim Babb said Monday the system does not comment on pending litigation.

Southside Virginia Community College has campuses in Alberta and Keysville, and has about 3,000 students.

Barringer-Brown was hired in December 2022 at SVCC, on a prorated one-year contract through June 2023. At that time, she received another one-year contract through June 2024.

Previously, Barringer-Brown was a professor of political science and public policy at Virginia State University. She received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia for 2023.

Much of the complaint is focused on interactions with Keith Harkins, the vice president of academic and workforce programs at SVCC.

Barringer-Brown claims that Harkins advised some white faculty members to come to him or human resources if they didn’t feel comfortable speaking with her. “The selected white (Caucasian) faculty members who made claims of being ‘uncomfortable’ with Dr. Barringer-Brown … had not made any attempt to meet with her or in some cases had not met or even introduced themselves to her before reporting directly to Dr. Harkins or the SVCC Office of HR,” the complaint says.

Harkins said by phone Monday he wasn’t aware of a suit against the college and couldn’t comment. He is not named as a defendant in the suit.

Barringer-Brown also claims that Harkins falsified her employee evaluation in July and August 2023. Barringer-Brown details an “excessively harsh, unprofessional and unwarranted verbal tirade of Dr. Harkins with no explanation” during a meeting about that evaluation. During that meeting, she claims Harkins threatened her with a faculty senate vote of no confidence.

Barringer-Brown’s complaint goes on to say that Harkins never delivered a completed evaluation or worked with her to complete her evaluation, even after she submitted a self-evaluation packet in early August.

The entire evaluation experience violates the state community college system faculty evaluation policy, according to Barringer-Brown.

Shortly after the conflict regarding her evaluation, Barringer-Brown says Harkins demanded she change a grade for a white student who was also an instructor in SVCC’s cosmetology program. Barringer-Brown refused, saying that the instructor for the student’s class had followed SVCC policy and issued the appropriate grade. The instructor was also a Black woman, the suit notes.

Barringer-Brown filed a claim with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commision on Sept. 2. By the end of that month, she had been dismissed from the college.

She says that the school used the falsified evaluation to justify her firing, and that SVCC denied her due process by not providing a grievance procedure regarding her termination or her interactions with Harkins.

Barringer-Brown notes in the suit that she has sought assistance from the human resources department at SVCC on several occasions, and submitted complaints or grievances to the Virginia Department of Human Resources Management and the Virginia Community College System either during or after her employment with the college was terminated.

Barringer-Brown said by email that SVCC did not respond to the EEOC’s request for mediation. The commission issued a right to sue letter after reviewing her complaint, which is required before filing a discrimination lawsuit against an employer in federal court.

The state community college system legal counsel, which is listed on court documents as representative for SVCC, must respond in court by July 17.

The post Former dean sues Southside Virginia Community College over claims of discrimination appeared first on Cardinal News .