Former UIW professor sues university for discrimination and retaliation
The professor seeks $1 million in monetary relief.
A former physical therapy professor claims that the University of Incarnate Word, pictured above, for retaliated against him after he complained about racist comments from the former university president.
John Davenport /San Antonio Express-News
A former physical therapy and track professor is claiming in a lawsuit that University of the Incarnate Word discriminated and retaliated against him when the school denied him tenure and a promotion in January 2020. Jaime González and attorneys with Wiley Walsh, P.C. filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, November 1, saying the discrimination and retaliation stems back to former president Louis Agnese Jr. resigned over racist and discriminatory comments.
González seeks monetary relief of up to $1 million, claiming the university denied him opportunities to advance his careers because of his sex, race, and national origin. He also claims he faced retaliation because he complained about certain appointments to committees that could be perceived as favoritism or nepotism, and complaints against Agnese.
In August 2016, a letter leaked to MySA said that Agnese made disparaging comments about race and jokes about skin color during a luncheon for physical therapy students. In one of the incidents, he called a Hispanic professor “Jose.” When corrected, he said that the professor looked like a “Jose” or a “Juan.” González says in the lawsuit that he was that professor.
Agnese resigned in 2016 and González also claims in the lawsuit that university leadership held meetings from August to October 2016 blaming him for Agnese being ousted. González was a professor at UIW from 2014 to 2020. He now resides in Arizona.
UIW declined to comment on the claims in the lawsuit in a statement emailed to MySA.
“While the University does not comment on specific litigation concerning personnel matters, the University of the Incarnate Word is proud to be an equal opportunity employer with a long and proven history of employing a diverse and dynamic workforce,” the statement says.
