Lester v. Powers

Facts

The defendant took a psychology course that was lectured by the plaintiff. One day, the plaintiff decided to have a class talk about homosexuality and the appropriateness of classifying homosexuality as a disorder when the person is unhappy about his or her sexual orientation. The defendant, who was lesbian, thought that the plaintiff handled the subject inappropriately. Later on, the plaintiff was under tenure review. As part of the tenure review process, the school accepted solicited letters from former students. The defendant did not respond to this invitation to comment before the deadline. However, the defendant later contacted the Dean of the Faculty and asked if it was too late to comment. The Dean invited her to do so. The defendant then wrote a letter criticizing the plaintiff. The letter read as follows: “I know that a student should not ever be made to feel uncomfortable or intimidated in her/his learning on account of gender or sexual orientation, and I sadly feel this was definitely the case for me. I also know of others who still feel intimidated, much as I have and for the same reasons, and who have not written to add their input to this decision; I thank this Committee for the opportunity to express my (and their) opinion that Professor Lews Lester should not be tenured.” After receiving the letter, the university decided to deny tenure to the plaintiff.