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Two former Georgia State University employees, Slma Shelbayah and Dona Stewart, have filed a federal lawsuit against Georgia State alleging the university violated their civil rights. Their lawyer announced this week that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice had issued a “right to sue” letter, a key hurdle for federal civil rights litigation.

The case evolved from an incident involving Slma Shelbayah, a PhD. student at GSU and visiting instructor who taught Arabic. According to Shelbayah, who also served as the former Program Director for GSU’s Study Abroad to Egypt program, she received harassing and discriminatory comments in August 2008 on more than one occasionfrom Dr. Mary Stuckey, a senior faculty member of the GSU Department of Communications. With the assistance of the former Director of the GSU Middle East Institute, Dr. Dona Stewart, Shelbayah filed a grievance against Stuckey, citing unwelcomed comments and questions as to whether she was ‘carrying any bombs’ underneath her headscarf, or hijab.

Shelbayah and Stewart said they both experienced negative reactions from GSU after filing the grievance. Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Lauren Adamson directed that Dr. Stewart fire Shelbayah from her Visiting Instructor position, according to a statement prepared by Shelbayah, Stewart, and their lawyer. Dr. Stewart refused. The university also removed Shelbayah from her Program Director position for the Study Abroad to Egypt program. Shelbayah’s statement explains that Adamson justified her actions by referring to ‘unwritten’ rules at GSU that prohibit visiting instructors from pursuing doctorates and from leading studies abroad.

The Fourteenth Amendment contains the Equal Protection Clause guaranteeing all American citizens equal protection before the law, and the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 specifically prohibits discrimination by employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It also protects employees against discrimination based on association with another employee of a particular race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Attorney James E. Radford, hired jointly by Shelbayah and Stewart, announced the “right to sue” letter this week. Radford chastised GSU’s handling of Stuckey’s behavior.

“It is outrageous that the college’s senior administrators would put the interests of tenured faculty above that of a student who has been subjected to such obviously offensive remarks,” Radford said in the statement, “To repeatedly state that a Muslim student is carrying ‘bombs’ under her headscarf, in this post-9/11 world, is tantamount to yelling fire in the crowded theatre. Clearly, the college’s administrators treated the grievance against Stuckey as an affront to her ‘academic freedom’ and sought to deter other students from questioning professors in this manner.”

Shelbayah stays positive about the case, but feels fatigued and struggles to cope with the effects it has had on her life over the past year.

“Living through this bigotry is like surviving abuse, and I just am hoping and praying for justice to bring an end to this abusive relationship. If it ends soon, I am grateful”, said Shelbayah, “But if the journey is long, I stilI know that it's for the benefit of many and I am willing to do this not just for me, but for other underrepresented individuals and for the future of my daughter.”

Shelbayah’s grievance against GSU has already received national media coverage.

Dr. Stewart has resigned her position as director of the Middle East Institute, and Shelbayah, had to put her PhD. studies on hold. Both avoid the campus, citing fear of what the press release calls ‘additional retaliatory action’ from GSU.

GSU Media Relations Director for Communications Andrea Jones provided this statement, also previously released by the university in July 2009:

“The university takes very seriously any claims of discrimination. The student's complaint was addressed using university procedure and appropriate action was taken in September of 2008. Due to federal privacy guidelines, the university cannot address the details of the complaint or its resolution. It was Dona Stewart's decision to resign as director of Middle East Institute.  In no way was retaliation taken against Professor Stewart nor the student as a result of the complaint.
The university looks forward to resolving this matter.”

Shelbayah, referred to in the university statement as ‘the student’, taught Arabic at GSU for two and a half years, one and a half of which was spent employed as a visiting instructor.