Alumnus sues midcoast media school over alleged discrimination

A former student of the Maine Media College in Rockport has filed a federal lawsuit against the school, claiming that it discriminated against him because of his gender identity.

Jacob Clayton of Northampton, Mass., filed the complaint with the U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday. He came out as a transgender man during his first month at the Maine Media College, and claims he immediately experienced microaggressions from faculty and staff, including lines of questioning, avoidance, changes in pattern, contradictions and reversal or denial of promises and expectations, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was first reported by the The Courier-Gazette .

The Maine Media College denied Clayton’s allegations in its defense before the Maine Human Rights Commission, the Gazette reported. It had not filed a response to his lawsuit as of Friday morning. It has argued that the former student sent a letter to the school citing the benefits of his experience there, according to the Gazette.

The lawsuit comes after a state agency recently sided with Maine Media College in the case.

Clayton filed a complaint to the Maine Human Rights Commission in February of 2022, alleging that Maine Media College discriminated against him based on sex and gender identity. But the commission voted 4-0 in April to find that there were no reasonable grounds to support Clayton’s claims and dismissed his complaint.

In his federal lawsuit, Clayton claims several of his works were not acknowledged or graded by professors, his accomplishments were ignored by faculty and staff and that he developed a stress-related illness because of the faculty and staff’s treatment of him. He also claimed he received “upsetting and sexual private Zoom messages” from a male teaching assistant.