Former EWU Women's Basketball Coach files $5 million claim against university over firing
At the end of March, after a third consecutive losing season, EWU announced the firing of long-time Women's Basketball Coach Wendy Schuller.
"I want to thank Coach Schuller for her years of service and leadership of the women's basketball program," EWU athletic director Lynn Hickey said in a news release. "Within our community, she has been a wonderful representative of Eastern Washington University and the athletic department. We wish all the best to Wendy and her family."
Schuller says her departure was anything but amicable and has since filed a $5-million tort claim against the university for what she says was a blindsided, illegal firing.
"I had such an affinity for that place and the people there," Schuller said about Eastern Washington University prior to current Athletic Director Lynn Hickey's arrival. "The thing that Eastern was, they had that comradery and relationships and it was really a family atmosphere, but it's like that just got blown out of the water within a pretty short period of time when Lynn started."
Schuller's claim essentially focuses on three areas of concern.
First, age discrimination. Schuller says Athletic Director Lynn Hickey's track record of hiring younger, less-qualified candidates and passing over or pushing out older staff members shows a pattern of age discrimination.
Next, the claim focuses on alleged Title IX violations, something Schuller says had been going on prior to Hickey's arrival, but something she actually hoped would get better with a women serving as Athletic Director. However, Schuller says things never got better with gender equality in sports at Eastern Washington and the men's teams were constantly favored in areas like budgeting, coaching, equipment and scheduling.
Finally, there are claims that the university didn't protect other students in alleged instances of physical abuse and concerning social media comments by athletes in the men's department. Schuller says as a mandatory reporter when issues like that are brought to her, her job was to bring them to Hickey. However, Schuller says the allegations were brushed off by Hickey and in one specific case, Schuller says Hickey practically blamed the victim.
"It was sickening to be honest with you," Schuller said. "It was almost victim blaming that Lynn Hickey was doing. Blaming these women for these situations."
Schuller says she hopes her case brings about change at the university.
"At the end of the day, my case isn't about their actions. My cases is about I reported them and was retaliated against for reporting those and was treated in a hostile manner," Schuller said. "I want women on the Eastern Washington Campus to feel safe. I want them to feel like they can use their voice and they can speak up... When I spoke up, this is what happened to me. But hopefully this doesn't happen to the next women to speak up."
Eastern Washington University declined to comment on the claim by Schuller due to it being an on-going legal matter.
Schuller's lawyer, Alexandria Drake, said the only response they've received from the university is that it is under investigation.
"This really destroyed a nearly 30 year career," Drake said. "The way that they responded to Coach Schuller doing what we expect coaches to do, what we certainly hope coaches to do and in doing so before he contract had expired has really just destroyed the 30 years that she has been coaching basketball players. She's dedicated her life to these students, 20 years of it to this university and in response they fired her in a way that ensured the maximum possible damage to her career prospects."
Eastern Washington University has about a month left to respond to Schuller's claim, according to Drake.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I need to approve