Anthony Alvarez, a KU student who served as a proctor for a scholarship hall, has filed a lawsuit against KU after he was fired from his position in the wake of speaking out against the university’s decision to end the hall’s gender-inclusive housing.
KU in February announced the decision to remove Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall’s gender-neutral bathroom and gender-inclusive housing assignments. The hall has had gender-inclusive housing options for years and many students protested the change.
Alvarez just finished his junior year at KU and was fired from his position similar to a resident assistant in March. He said the firing was due to him speaking to the news media in opposition to the policy change.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court, argues Alvarez spoke to the media as an individual who had lived in the hall, not as a KU employee, and thus his firing a violation of his First Amendment rights.
It also asserts KU’s policy requiring employees to refer media requests to a supervisor restricts protected speech.
The lawsuit also suggests Alvarez was not extended due process rights because KU failed to offer a full notice of his right to appeal or allow Alvarez to be meaningfully heard prior to his termination.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are KU, Assistant Director of Residence Life Emily Chellgren and Executive Director of Housing & Residence Life Sarah Waters. Alvarez is represented by Grissom Miller Law Firm LLC.
“A person cannot be required to shed constitutionally protected rights as a condition of their employment,” Barry R. Grissom, a partner at Grissom Miller, said in a news release. “That is what happened here to Mr. Alvarez, and we look forward to his day in court to correct the injustice he faced.”
KU spokesperson Erinn Barcomb-Peterson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Alvarez had multiple meetings with members of KU’s housing office and was barred from entering the building without being accompanied by his boss, blocking him from accessing his possessions, according to the lawsuit.
Before his firing, he had originally applied to continue his role at GP, but was instead offered a spot at K.K. Amini Hall, the only remaining scholarship hall with gender-inclusive housing assignments, he said in April. He said this was because KU Housing worried he wouldn’t enforce the new rules on gendered housing and bathrooms at GP.
In April, residents of the hall and other KU students marched to the KU Housing and Residence Life office to protest Alvarez’s firing.
The lawsuit does not name a specific amount of money but requests compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees and “for such other and further relief as (the court) deems fair and equitable under the circumstances.”
It asks for a trial in Kansas City, Kansas.
Note: An attorney of record on this lawsuit was a full-time reporter for The Lawrence Times in 2021 and has occasionally contributed articles in the time since.
If our local journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
Related coverage:
Cuyler Dunn/Lawrence TimesFired student worker sues, alleging KU violated his First Amendment rights
Cuyler Dunn / Lawrence Times
Cuyler Dunn/Lawrence Times
Latest Lawrence news:
Maya Hodison/Lawrence Times
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
