OLLIE CASE

Ex-UConn coach asks judge to move ahead with lawsuit.

Kevin Ollie has officially opposed UConn’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit regarding the school’s interference with the former basketball coach’s racial discrimination claim.

The opposition, submitted Tuesday in Connecticut federal court, says UConn “is engaging in a discriminatory and retaliatory course of conduct which must be enjoined in order to protect [Ollie’s] rights.”

Ollie filed a suit in December alleging that UConn had illegally deterred him from filing a complaint of racial discrimination with a state commission by threatening to withdraw from the arbitration process that will decide whether the school must pay him the $10 million that remained on his contract when he was fired as men’s basketball coach.

Ollie, who is black, claimed in the suit that he was treated differently from his predecessor Jim Calhoun, who is white. UConn fired Ollie last March for “just cause,” citing a series of recruiting violations, and claimed it no longer owed the coach the money left on the $17.9 million contract extension that was supposed to run through 2021. In his lawsuit, Ollie noted that Calhoun retained his job despite being found to have committed similar violations.

Ollie and UConn will meet in court on Jan. 25, when a judge will

hear arguments regarding the motion to dismiss that the school filed in December. The dispute surrounding Ollie’s suit hinges in part on Section 10.3 of the collective bargaining agreement between UConn and the Connecticut chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which says the school has no obligation to proceed with an arbitration process if another party seeks to resolve an issue in a different forum. UConn argues that if Ollie were to file a racial discrimination com- plaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, the school could legally end the arbitration process. Ollie and his lawyer, meanwhile, have alleged that Section 10.3 violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is unenforceable.

Ollie has asked a judge for injunctive relief that would allow him to file his racial discrimination complaint without jeopardizing his ability to engage in arbitration. The coach’s lawyer, Jacques Parenteau, hopes to proceed with the complaint after the arbitration process has finished.

Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com.