Black College Student Files $5 Million Discrimination Suit

Claim says university failed to protect student from racial bullying

By Carla Murphy Mar 26, 2014

Donald Williams, an 18-year-old black freshman, has filed a $5 million lawsuit against San Jose State University in California. The claim alleges that the university failed to protect Williams from racial bullying and investigate last fall’s incidents sooner. 

Between last September and October 2013, according to police reports, e-mails and court documents, four white suitemates racially harassed Williams, then 17. The incidents include: flying the Confederate flag and displaying Nazi imagery in the dorm; calling Williams "three-fifths" and "fraction;" and wrestling Williams to the ground and fastening a bicycle lock around his neck among others.

"Three-fifths" refers to the pre-Civil War constitutional compromise, in which the U.S. counted enslaved persons as three-fifths of a human being. SJSU is the alma mater of track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos who famously struck the Black Power salute at the ’68 Olympics. SJSU honors their protest with a statue on campus. 

(h/t University Herald)