Former UVA employee Dena Bowers has filed a lawsuit in Charlottesville Circuit Court against the University of Virginia and several staff members for her firing last November. The suit, filed June 19, alleges Bowers’ firing was done without proper notice and violated her free speech rights.
In October 2005, Bowers, who is active with the NAACP, sent an e-mail to a friend, Katherine Hoffman, also a UVA employee and NAACP member. Bowers used her University e-mail account to send NAACP documents that were critical of the University’s so-called “charter initiative.” When it takes effect July 1, the initiative will give UVA increased autonomy from the State. Hoffman forwarded the e-mail, and it was later forwarded by another employee to the entire classified staff of UVA’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Bowers, a 17-year employee, was questioned by Yoke San Reynolds, UVA’s chief financial officer, and her supervisors in the human resources department, Nat Scurry and Lucinda Childs-White. All three are named in the suit. Bowers was fired November 22, the suit states, after she refused to answer questions about the source of the NAACP information. UVA also wanted Bowers to say that she had not sent the information in her official capacity with the University, but had distributed it personally, other media sources have reported.
The suit also names University Vice President Leonard Sandridge for his supervisory role in her firing.
Bowers’ attorney, Deborah Wyatt, sums up the suit thusly: “Shame on them. You’re a prestigious university, you know the First Amendment. You’re in Charlottesville. Don’t do things like that.”
The suit claims that Bowers violated no e-mail policy, and that Bowers had a right to express her personal views through e-mail. Bowers is seeking $750,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.
Wyatt says UVA will probably fight the suit. “Never say never, but often when you have an infinite pocket, there doesn’t seem to be the same incentive to settle as private people have,” she says.
Wyatt says UVA knew that the suit was coming. In late November, about 75 University and community members who believed that Bowers was targeted for her position against the charter plan rallied in her support. Many at that time suggested a lawsuit was to come.
The suit is currently being processed, and papers have not yet been served to the University. UVA representatives did not return calls by press time.
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