Former General Education professors file whistleblower lawsuit against Kean University

By Salimah McCullough | Published by February 14, 2020

Six General Education lecturers who say they were fired shortly after complaining about student privacy issues caused by a move to open office space have filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the university. 

The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of Union County on Jan. 13, includes six of 10 GE professors who were not reappointed last year. The plaintiffs are former lecturers Heather Connors, Straubel Cetoute, Fadi Hilani, Andre Jones, Mirela Negoita, and Shayla Ward.  

The case, which names Kean University, President Dawood Farahi, and Provost Jeffrey Toney; was filed under the Whistleblower and Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA). CEPA is “a broad New Jersey Whistleblower law. It helps protect employees from retaliation such as being fired, demoted, passed up for a promotion or harassed because they objected to something that they reasonably believed violated the law,” according to njemploymentlawfirm.com.  

In June 2018, the six general education lecturers first raised concerns about the security cameras that had audio in their new, glass-enclosed open office space on the first floor of the Center for Academic Success. They were concerned that the cameras would potentially violate students’ privacy rights, according to the lawsuit.      

Originally, the lecturers were located in private offices on the second floor of CAS. They were later moved to the first floor of CAS into an “open-concept office in a glass-enclosed space,” according to an Oct. 2018 article published in The Tower. 

The first-floor office space used to be the tutoring center, which is why cameras were installed in the space. The new offices were equipped with open cubicles and cameras which raised many concerns for the faculty. 

The biggest concerns were that the new office spaces violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) which is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law “applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education,” according to the FERPA website. 

The six professors frequently raised concerns at several meetings that the environment was having a chilling effect on students who needed to have private and confidential communications with lecturers to share protected and/or highly-sensitive information, including health-related information, according to the lawsuit. 

In Feb. 2019, each of the professors now suing, was recommended for reappointment for the 2019-20 school year by Executive Director Bridget Chapman and Dean Jonathan Mercantini, according to the lawsuit.   

Then, in April 2019, they all received written notice from Kean president Dawood Farahi that they would not be reappointed. Lecturers are professors who work on one-year contracts and several of them had been working at Kean for years.   

University Spokesperson Margaret McCorry did not directly comment on the pending legal case but said that the lecturer’s teaching skills and contributions to the university are reviewed by administrators each semester before recommendations for re-hires are made. 

“We recognize that people who are not recommended for another contract are often upset and may put forth explanations that are irrelevant, which is the case here,” McCorry said. “Nevertheless, Kean’s personnel recommendations are based solely on what is best for our students and any suggestion otherwise is entirely false.”  

The suit also names Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Jeffrey Toney who in May sent out an email to all Kean students defending Kean’s actions.

“He falsely alleged in essence that the terminated lecturers had failed to meet Kean’s rigorous standards, (and) did not serve the best interests of Kean’s students and would be replaced, ” the lawsuit stated

According to the lawsuit, the lecturers did perform their jobs competently, as evidenced by their performance reviews, student evaluations and feedback from their supervisors. 

The lecturers had a lot of support among students and faculty. Before the May 6 Board of Trustees meeting, a walk-out took place as staff, and lawmakers protested the planned firing of the professors students. Some students and faculty were allowed into the room to plead their case during the board meeting. However, the board approved of Farahi’s decision.   

“All of these colleagues, their termination was a tremendous loss for the university,” said Kean University Federation of Teachers President James Castiglione. “These were outstanding instructors and advisors for our students and valued colleagues among the faculty and staff.” 

The professors are being represented by Gary Roth, a certified employment law attorney with Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins. 

“The filed complaint appropriately sets forth the factual allegations underlying my client’s claims,” Roth said via email. “They are [all] looking forward to litigating this matter.”

 

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