Ex-administrator sues UT over firing

12/1/2008

A former University of Toledo administrator who was fired after writing a column for a local publication is suing the university.

Crystal Dixon, former associate vice president for human resources at UT, filed a complaint Monday in U.S. District Court in Toledo alleging violation of her first and fourteenth amendment rights.

The lawsuit lists UT President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs and William Logie, vice president for human resources and campus safety, as the defendants.

The Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor is representing Ms. Dixon.

Ms. Dixon was fired from the university in early May after her April 18 guest column in the Toledo Free Press expressed her opinion that gay rights cannot be compared to civil rights because she could not choose to not be a black woman.

The column was in response to one previously written by editor-in-chief Michael Miller which said Ohio lags in gay rights.

The complaint filed Monday states that Ms. Dixon was punished for her private political speech, violating her First Amendment right to free speech, and she was denied access to a forum for her speech based on its viewpoint, which violates the equal protection of the law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

The case has been assigned to Judge David Katz.