White Teacher Files Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against HBCU and Wins!

White Teacher Files Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against HBCU and Wins!

Shira Hedgepeth claims she was fired from Winston-Salem State University, a Historically Black College and University, because she is a white woman. An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission  ruling backs up the claim.


Hedgepeth was the university’s director of academic technology in the Department of Information Technology and had worked there prior to her termination in September 2010, since August 2008.


A Winston-Salem State University letter to the EEOC denies the allegation and says her termination was nondiscriminatory. They mention that WSSU hired a new associate provost and chief information officer and soon after, the two terminated Hedgepeth because they were “going in a different direction” and the position had new responsibilities that required “advanced skills in systems and applications programming.”

The EEOC concluded that Hedgepeth’s “race, white, was a factor in the terms and conditions of employment and respondent’s (WSSU’s) decision to terminate her employment.” –yvette caslin


Read the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s response to Shira Hedgepeth’s claim. 

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