The University of Idaho College of Law is facing its third lawsuit in the past few years.
Three students filed the lawsuit in September of 2023. The original lawsuit has been amended in December of 2023. The three students in the lawsuit are referred to as Jane Doe, Kelly Doe, and John Doe.
According to court documents and public records, the University’s Law Department receives federal funding. Due to this, they must follow non-discrimination laws. According to the Plaintiffs, this policy has not been met.
The Plaintiffs are current and former students at the College of Law and claim that they have endured discriminatory treatment from the staff, fellow students, and the University itself. The Plaintiffs also claim that these actions have caused them to leave Idaho for their safety.
All the plaintiffs identify with the LGBTQIA+ community and have disabilities. Furthermore, two are people of color.
Kelly and John Doe currently attend school remotely, and Jane Doe has switched schools.
Kelly and John still face current discrimination and claim that the University is not providing accommodations for their disabilities.
One of the plaintiff’s student records was released illegally by a University Staff member which contributes to the anonymity needed for the students.
Due to this, the Plaintiffs want to seek relief for the harm they have endured and to ensure that safety is afforded to other students at the University. They seek this on the grounds of violations of 13 different counts.
The defendants in this case are C. Scott Green (President of The University of Idaho), Johanna Kalb (Dean of the University of Idaho College of Law), Jackie Wernez (Interim Director of the Office of Civil Rights and Investigations of the University of Idaho), Cory Voss (Director of the University of Idaho Center for Disability Access and Resources), Richard Seamon (Professor of Law at the College of Law), and a former student.
Kelly Doe was a third-year law student at the University. Kelly identifies as LGBTQIA+ and is also a person of color. She has been medically diagnosed with disabilities which are also related to the events outlined in the lawsuit and the discrimination she faced at the University.
According to the lawsuit, within the first two months, Kelly experienced racist and homophobic behaviors from Law School staff, professors, and students. She claimed that this had isolated her and affected her educational experience. She also claims that she was not allowed to share her own experiences as a person of color in class or discussions. Kelly goes on to state that students would intentionally shun, avoid, and exclude her.
According to the lawsuit, when talking with Dean Kalb about the things she had experienced, Kelly told her: “It is hard enough being one of two Black people in the class of 2024, but the added ignorance and hatred we get from students and staff makes me feel even more like an outcast and like I should not even be here.”
Dean Kalb told Kelly the school would be acting against this. Throughout the lawsuit, Kelly does not believe any action had taken place, since no changes were made, and they never followed up with her claims.
The other Plaintiff, John Doe, is a Pacific Islander and has disabilities as well as identifying with the LGBTQIA+ community. He joined the University through a diversity program called Council on Legal Education Opportunity.
An incident shared in the lawsuit by John described an occurrence in September of 2021. John hosted a social mixer to get to know his fellow law students. One of the students who attended was a member of CLS (Christian Legal Group), which according to the lawsuit, is a Christian group that is known for discriminating against sexual orientation and gender identity.
One CLS member and a classmate called John a slur and outed him to his classmates during the mixer. In doing so, his sexual orientation became known throughout the student body. John reported the incident to the College of Law within a couple of days.
The response was a no-contact order between John and the classmate who assaulted him. However, the classmate was still allowed to attend classes even ones that John was attending remotely.
Throughout the year after the incident, CLS members continued to harass John, Jane, and other students.
In February 2022, John was invited to a social gathering off campus. He had gone unaware that most of the attendees were CLS members. One was the CLS chapter’s president who repeatedly asked John to drop his complaints against the classmate who had previously assaulted him. When he refused the CLS members began harassing him and John quickly left.
John Doe was not the only one who faced continual harassment from CLS members according to the lawsuit.
Kelly Doe attended the University from August 2021 until July 2022.
While she attended the University, she faced discrimination and retaliation that affected her education and safety according to the lawsuit.
Following an incident of a homophobic slur written on a community board, Dean Kalb sent an email to announce that a Moment of Community, to support LGBTQIA+ students, would be held.
The lawsuit states that when Jane and Kelly attended CLS students had “hijacked” the event. They forced Jane and Kelly into a prayer circle without their consent and when Jane asked a CLS member why they were there, they proceeded to make homophobic comments to Jane and harass her.
Others who witnessed the incidents such as faculty members and professors failed to address and stop the remarks according to Jane and Kelly.
On April 4th, 2022, LGBTQIA+ students participated in a walkout due to the incidents that took place at The Moment of Community.
On April 5th, 2022, while Jane was studying, she found a note from the CLS president. Jane felt unsafe by the note and requested to leave campus since she felt like she was being targeted by CLS students and felt unsafe on campus.
Three CLS members were issued with a no-contact order by the University. In response, the CLS members filed a lawsuit against the University of Idaho on April 26, 2022. They claimed that the University had violated their freedom of speech and religion. This is documented in the “CLS Lawsuit”.
Due to the CLS lawsuit, Jane’s emails were released and subsequently, she felt unsafe to return to campus after finishing the Spring 2022 Semester remotely.
The Plaintiffs in this case are demanding a trial by jury through the lawsuit and the proceedings are still ongoing.
Access to this information is available through public records and online through the PACER system.
Andrea Roberts can be reached at [email protected].