Lawsuit: Kent State professor’s promotion denied due to gender identity

AKRON — Kent State University unlawfully rescinded a promotion to a qualified professor because of their gender identity, according to a federal discrimination lawsuit filed Monday in Akron.

Gpat Patterson, an assistant professor with Kent State’s English Department, accused the university of engaging in “sabotage” by reneging on a promise to promote them to a leadership role. Patterson is transgender and uses they/them pronouns, according to the lawsuit.

In addition, Kent State officials administered a flawed voting process that resulted in the denial of Patterson’s request to transfer from its Tuscarawas campus to its main campus in Kent, blocking opportunities for career advancement and raises, the lawsuit said.

Patterson’s attorney, Justin Whittaker, declined comment. University spokesman Eric Mansfield said the administration has not yet been notified of the complaint and typically doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Patterson, a scholar of rhetoric, women’s studies and LGBTQ studies, was hired by Kent State in 2018 and placed on a tenure track. At the time of the alleged discrimination, Patterson was the only openly transgender professor at the university.

The lawsuit said that early last year, Dean Mandy Munro-stasiuk discussed making Patterson the director of KSU’S Center for Sexuality and Gender Studies program and assigning them to launch a women and gender studies program. The role would allow Patterson to reduce their teaching load by half.

In May of last year, Munro-stasiuk offered Patterson two chairperson positions — for the Center for Sexuality and Gender Studies Steering Committee and the Women and Gender Studies Major Committee — that Patterson accepted, the lawsuit said.

Munro-stasiuk further suggested that the promotion would allow for a transfer to the Kent campus, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said Patterson was the most qualified person on campus for the joint-position. The next month, Munro-stasiuk rescinded the promotion, citing someone’s fear that Patterson would “erase women” in the women and gender studies curriculum, the lawsuit said.