Claims embroil police at TSU
Employee says she was retaliated against in lawsuit
Last year, after Roberta Gibson reported unwanted touches, sexual comments and hugs from Texas Southern University’s then-police chief, the top cop resigned.
Now, in a federal lawsuit filed last week, Gibson, still employed within the university police department as a project coordinator, accuses new Police Chief Mary Young of retaliating against her because she spoke publicly about her complaints.
Gibson said in the lawsuit against the university and Young that her duties have been reassigned to other employees and that she has been moved to “cramped and inconvenient” work stations on two occasions.
“The university’s actions have sent a clear and unmistakable message that Ms. Gibson is no longer welcome at Texas Southern specifically because she came forward to report sexual harassment,” the lawsuit states.
It’s the second sexual harassment lawsuit from a TSU police department employee filed in the last month. In early February, James Williams, a sergeant in the department, filed a lawsuit in Harris County saying the university and multiple police
employees discriminated against him based on his sexual orientation, creating a hostile work environment.
The lawsuits come as workplaces nationwide — from Hollywood studios to government agencies to college campuses — are considering how they handle reports of sexual misconduct. Gibson said she has felt some solidarity in the #MeToo movement in which people have shared stories of sexual misconduct on social media.
#MeToo movement
University spokeswoman Melinda Spaulding wrote in an email that she could not comment on any lawsuits or personnel matters. Chief Young referred comment to the university.
Attorney Brennen Dunn, who is representing Williams, said his client reached a “breaking point.”
Williams has been employed at TSU for 14 years.
“It’s been devastating for him in terms of the stress it causes him, the anxiety he’s endured for it,” Dunn said. “He’s expressed to me he doesn’t sleep well at night.”
In Williams’ lawsuit, he said he was denied promotions because of his sexual orientation. Williams said in the lawsuit that a colleague called him homophobic and racist slurs.
At one point, a photo of his face superimposed on a nearnude photo of a man roller skating was placed on university property, he said in the lawsuit.
An HR investigation in June filed with the lawsuit substantiated several of Williams’ complaints and recommended several possible sanctions for employees responsible, including termination. Spaulding said the employee who Williams accused of using the slurs, Byron Simmons, is no longer employed by the department. Simmons did not respond to messages to email accounts and phone numbers listed for him on Thursday.
To Gibson, the fact that her report was credible enough to oust then-Police Chief Remon Green and yet she still, she said, saw retaliation shows the challenges that come with reporting sexual misconduct.
‘Frivolous’ write-ups
After Green’s resignation, Gibson conducted multiple interviews with local television stations and other media outlets, including the Houston Chronicle, which she said in her lawsuit prompted retaliatory action.
She said in the lawsuit that she was then removed from TSU’s command staff, threatened with termination and subjected to multiple “frivolous” write-ups “in an effort to justify her eventual termination.”
“It’s the essence of why women don’t report,” she said by phone Thursday. “I expected some backlash, maybe ... but never on this scale, never.”
During its probe of then-police chief Green, TSU found that his actions created an “offensive hostile and uncomfortable work environment” through “unwanted and unwelcomed” hugs and touches and suggestive comments about female employees’ attire.
He had worked at TSU for about 15 years as a sergeant, lieutenant, captain and deputy chief before assuming the chief position.
‘Family atmosphere’?
Green denied making sexually overt comments or gestures toward Gibson or other employees, according to the college’s report of its investigation. His hugs, he told investigators, were meant to promote a “family atmosphere” in his department and he said he thought Gibson filed a complaint against him because she did not receive a pay raise in 2016.
An attorney representing Green last year told the Chronicle that Gibson’s allegations were false and “malicious,” though many were substantiated by the university’s internal investigation.
lindsay.ellis@chron.com twitter.com/lindsayaellis