Student files bias suit against U.

A Social Work student claims racial harassment and grade tampering in several classes. and Stephanie Oliva A graduate student in the School of Social Work announced a $10.6 million lawsuit against the University yesterday, alleging racial discrimination and grade tampering. In the suit -- filed in U.S. District Court in January -- Cleaven Johnson alleges that the University encourages the harassment and isolation of African Americans by condoning racial intolerance and animosity toward black students. The University denied all the allegations. "A culture of hostility and disrespect against African-American students and other minority students of African descent permeates the staff, student body and general campus of the University of Pennsylvania," the suit says. At a press conference yesterday afternoon in the Greenfield Intercultural Center at 3708 Chestnut Street, Johnson's lawyer, Rosalind Plummer, told an audience of about 50 students and reporters that their goal in this suit is to "help change the racial situation and climate at the University for all [students]" and to "keep students of African descent from being unfairly beat down and driven out of the university," Plummer said. University spokesperson Ken Wildes rejected the suit's claims, stating that "[the University] will defend the lawsuit vigorously." "Any suggestion that the University of Pennsylvania condones racial harassment and grade tampering with regard to Cleaven Johnson or any other student is absolutely outrageous," he said. The nine other defendants named in the suit -- including Social Work Dean Ira Schwartz -- were unable to be reached for comment last night. At the press conference, Johnson -- who is also a graduate associate in Ware College House -- encouraged others who may have had similar experiences to come forward to help show a pattern of discrimination at the University. Johnson, 40, a graduate of Yale University's Divinity School, came to Penn two years ago to pursue a master's degree in Social Work. Although he was scheduled to graduate this May, Johnson claims that racially motivated actions by two of his instructors have caused him to fall behind in his courseload. "[This treatment] was calculated to depress and discourage [Johnson] and to impede his ability to graduate with good academic standing," the lawsuit claims. In particular, Johnson accused the instructors of making unfair demands of him that were not required of white students. He claims that one instructor "routinely refused to accept [his] papers" and that she believed Johnson "thought he could just 'slide through' the Social Work School because he was black." In addition, the lawsuit states that another instructor "routinely berated [him] and embarrassed him in the presence of other students." Johnson also claimed that he was the victim of grade tampering. For instance, he says one of the instructors forced him to completely rewrite his final paper two weeks after submission at the end of the 1997 fall semester, giving him an incomplete until he resubmitted the assignment. Johnson said that the instructor eventually failed him because he continued to file complaints with officials of the school concerning her allegedly racist actions throughout the semester. Although Johnson's allegations were reviewed by Social Work administrators, they found them to have no merit and no further actions were undertaken by the school. But Plummer said that the investigation wasn't taken seriously. "[These individuals] just went through the motions" of addressing Johnson's complaints, Plummer said. Johnson said that he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his alleged mistreatment. He stressed that he intends to finish his degree at Penn, claiming that "they're not going to drive me out." In support of the allegations, the lawsuit cites several Daily Pennsylvanian articles from 1993 and 1994 that reported on racial controversies. During those two years, Penn attracted a huge amount of national media attention for two major incidents. In one, then-College freshman Eden Jacobowitz was charged under the University's speech code with racial harassment for allegedly calling a group of African-American sorority sisters "water buffaloes." Several months later, a black student group confiscated an entire day's press run of the DP over what they felt were racist remarks by a DP columnist. United Minorities Council President Chaz Howard said that while he doesn't think Johnson would lie about the allegations, he hasn't personally encountered any similar situations. "I think the University has made great, great strides" but there is still room for improvement, the College junior said.

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