University of Idaho law school students allege discrimination and hostile environment

Three University of Idaho College of Law students have left the state in response to alleged discrimination they received over the course of their enrollment, a federal lawsuit says.

The lawsuit, originally filed in September and refiled in December, says the students all identify as LGBTQ+, one is Black and one is Pacific Islander, and some have disabilities that the school did not accommodate. Each student claims they experienced hostility, racial aggressions and a lack of response by the school when discrimination claims were brought to their attention.

The lawsuit was served to the university, the state board of education, university President Scott Green, the dean of the law school, a professor and a former law student, accusing them of Title IX violations.

One plaintiff, known as “John” in the lawsuit, hosted a mixer at his home in Moscow, Idaho, in 2021 to get to know fellow law students. Some of them were members of the Christian Legal Society, a chapter at the university that advocates for anti-abortion practices, religious freedom, free speech and practices that “remain in line with the historic Christian view about marriage and sexual conduct.”

At some point during the party, the plaintiff was cornered in his kitchen by a student who called him an offensive slur often used against LGBTQ+ people, the suit said. John was not open about his sexuality at that point. Other people attending the mixer had to physically restrain the student who used the slur, who has not been charged with a crime. John reported the incident to the school, and the Office of Civil Rights and Investigations began looking into the complaint.

At the same time, John claimed he was being intimidated by other Christian Legal Society members to “just drop” the complaint against the student, the lawsuit said, causing John to become more fearful of his safety at school.

The investigations office concluded its report by writing there was insufficient evidence to act because there was no sign of intimidation, the lawsuit said. A separate investigation ordered the student to stay away from John.

Another plaintiff known as “Kelly” is Black and identifies as LGBTQ+. During orientation in 2021, there were multiple racist comments made that led Kelly to feel uncomfortable, according to the lawsuit. Kelly said a student was justifying why they should be able to use slurs.

Associate Dean of Students Kristi Running said at a new student orientation that those who felt uncomfortable by this comment needed to be “more lenient,” according to the lawsuit. An attempt to reach Running on Wednesday was unsuccessful.

Kelly also was enrolled in a class where a professor said he might accidentally “use the N-word” and told a Black student he would “know all about” car theft, according to the suit. As the semester progressed, she felt more alienated by her peers, as she was one of the few Black students in the law college. She reported what she knew to the school, the lawsuit said, but the school never provided any follow-up.

The next year, the school held a “Moment of Community” in response to a slur that had been written on a whiteboard at UI’s Boise campus. Christian Legal Society members attended the event to hold a prayer circle. Kelly and another plaintiff, known as “Jane,” attended the Moment of Community to support their LGBTQ+ friends but felt it had been hijacked.

Afterward, the lawsuit said, Jane approached a Christian Legal Society member to ask “why they were attending the Moment of Community in support of the LGBTQIA+ community when CLS publicly condemned and rebuked the LGBTQIA+ community.”

The lawsuit says the students were met with hostility by three Christian Legal Society members when they claimed they “have no rights” and were “going to hell.”

Jane also received a note she perceived as threatening from the Christian Legal Society president that caused her to have a panic attack, according to the lawsuit.

She reported this interaction to the investigations office and the university issued a no-contact order based on its Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy and its Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Policies against the three students. Those three later sued the school in April 2022, claiming the university violated their free speech, according to reporting from the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Eventually, a judge ruled the university had to rescind the no-contact order and the school was ordered to pay $90,000 to the three Christian Legal Society students and their professor, according to the Associated Press.

Jane left the law school and moved from Idaho because she felt unsafe and unwelcome, the lawsuit said. She moved to Washington to attend law school in the Seattle area. Kelly was diagnosed by a doctor as having depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder after the alleged incidents. She started attending classes remotely from her home in Washington.

John was required to attend classes in person with those he felt unsafe around, according to the lawsuit. He continued to request permission to attend online due to a bone disease and mental health issues. He moved to Arizona in May 2022 where he was approved to attend classes remotely through the “Student in Practice” program.

The University of Idaho said Wednesday that it cannot comment on pending litigation, and the attorneys who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the three plaintiffs declined to comment.

Steven McFarland, the director for the Center of Law and Religious Freedom at Christian Legal Society, said if the accusations are true about any of the society’s members, “that would be highly unfortunate and we would not condone it.”

“The investigations office should confirm they are respecting the rights of all students, including the CLS chapter. Given the recent litigation, I’d think the folks that should be questioned are the investigations office,” McFarland said.

This is not the first time the University of Idaho College of Law has been accused of discrimination. Shaakirrah Sanders is a former law professor at the school and the university’s first Black woman to become a full professor with the College of Law. She sued the University of Idaho in 2019 because she was “subjected to insulting, humiliating and/or discriminatory conduct related to her gender or race.”

She alleged that university officials retaliated against her for bringing forward concerns about students’ racist comments and ignored the comments made by those students, and that she was told she wasn’t qualified enough for her position and made significantly less than her white male counterparts.

Idaho Education News reported that Sanders and the school reached a $750,000 settlement in September. She has since moved to Penn State’s law program.

Alexandra Duggan can be reached at (509) 459-5469 or by email at alexandrad@spokesman.com.