Steven B. Chesbro, who according to the suit is the only dean at Alabama State not designated as African-American or black, and his partner and fellow ASU faculty member John Garland also contend that ASU passed regulations specifically against same-sex couples and that officials retaliated against the pair for complaining about the university using race as a determining factor for both hiring professors and admitting students.

Bobby Segall, an attorney representing ASU, said the university categorically denies the contentions.

[quote_box_center]”They deny that anything related to their (Chesbro’s and Garland’s) employment arose because of anything racial or anything related to their sexual orientation,” Segall sai[/quote_box_center]

He said the contention that the university uses race as a determining factor in hiring faculty is also untrue.

Segall said the suit, which has been filed in U.S. District Court in Montgomery, appears to be less about the university than about a few faculty members at the university.

[quote_box_center]”I think maybe one or more of those folks had a squabble with some of their faculty members, but Alabama State University did not engage in any discrimination as alleged in their complaint,” he said.[/quote_box_center]

But attorney Wayne Sabel, who is representing Chesbro and Garland, said the suit “clearly shows that there was discrimination because of race and sexual orientation: There’s no doubt about that.”

[quote_box_center]”They have told Dr. Chesbro that his hands are tied in the face of gross insubordination and even threats of physical harm,” Sabel said. “They You look at some of the statements they have made that are in the complaint, and they are saying things like ‘only black professors should teach black students.'”[/quote_box_center] Read Full at USA TODAY