Ex-Penn officer sues U. over discrimination

The Latino officer says he was also fired because of his testimony in a discrimination suit. A Latino former University Police officer has accused Penn and its police chief of discrimination and defamation, saying he was fired because of his ethnicity and for supporting another officer's charges of discrimination against the University. Demetrius Casillas of the 5000 block of Boudinot Street in Philadelphia filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court December 29. The University has not yet responded to the suit, and no trial date has been set. Casillas claims to have been "subjected to harassment in the form of racial and ethnic slurs by his superiors" throughout his tenure on the University Police force, according to the complaint. He was on the force for either three or four years, depending on which of the dates in the suit are correct. University spokesperson Ken Wildes and attorneys from Penn's Office of the General Counsel could not be reached for comment last week. Casillas' attorney, Peter Williams, also refused to comment on the case or explain several discrepancies in the complaint. Casillas is seeking back wages from his $35,000-a-year job in addition to unspecified legal costs and punitive damages. In the lawsuit, Casillas accuses the University of firing him because of his Latino ancestry and because he "testified on behalf of a fellow police officer in a discrimination charge against the University" in 1996. The complaint did not elaborate on the charge. The date of Casillas' dismissal is unclear. The complaint states at different points that Casillas was fired on July 26, 1996, and on the same date in 1997. The behavior described in the suit prompted Casillas to file a complaint in September 1996 with the University's Office of Affirmative Action, which, according to the lawsuit, never responded. Following his termination, the complaint states that Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush "intentionally, knowingly, and without justification" acted to stop Casillas from securing another law enforcement position. Also, the suit accuses Rush of acting "to deprive plaintiff of his good name and reputation" by slandering him to University Police officers and several community leaders. The complaint says Casillas received a "right-to-sue" letter from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September 1997, a necessary precursor to filing an employment discrimination suit. Rush declined to comment last week. Rush, who came to the University in 1994 and took her current position in January 1996, is no stranger to Penn-related litigation. She is a defendant in a February 1997 lawsuit involving a former Penn student who claims she was raped in 1994 and that University officials failed to report it to state and federal authorities. The University has denied the charges. That case is set to get a trial date in June. Rush is also a co-defendant in the lawsuit the Schoepe family brought against the University last spring. In that case, the owners of University Pinball and University Laundry accuse the University and the city of illegally shutting down the two Spruce Street business in April 1997. The University has countersued.