Registrar seeks restraining order in midst of USF discrimination accusation

In the wake of an ongoing discrimination investigation, the USF registrar has filed a motion for restraining orders against the university’s Board of Trustees, the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Student Success.

Last December, the woman in charge of students’ records on campus, Angela DeBose, who is black, in charge of the university’s records, accused Vice Provost Paul Dosal of discriminating against her. 

Though the court denied her initial motion, DeBose is able to revise her motion by Friday.

First reported by the Tampa Bay Business Journal, in her court documents filed earlier this month to the Tampa Division of the U.S. District Court, DeBose stated Dosal ostracized her and threatened to fire her on the basis of race and gender.

If issued by the court, a restraining order would prevent USF from firing or reprimanding DeBose. 

According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, DeBose declined to comment and Dosal has yet to comment. 

“We are pleased that the court denied the order for failure to state a case and for lack of jurisdiction,” USF spokesman Adam Freeman said in a statement, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “However, the university has not been served at this time.”

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is reported to be investigating the discrimination allegations, but it is not within its power to restrain the university. 

This not a first for USF to be accused of discrimination. Most allegations for employers as large as a university do not turn into a lawsuit.

In 2010, an academic adviser claimed USF fired her because of race, only to be rehired into a different position. In 2004, a Muslim student quit the women’s basketball team after claiming her coach objected to her headscarf. In 2000, the university fired former women’s basketball coach for claims of racial discrimination.

-— Staff report