An Employee at UW-Eau Claire Files Federal Lawsuit Claiming Racial Discrimination

Tuesday, December 19th, 2023 -- 10:00 AM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) An employee of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has filed a federal lawsuit claiming she faced racial discrimination and was demoted from a diversity, equity and inclusion leadership position because she is white. 

According to Rich Kremer with Wisconsin Public Radio, the suit follows earlier complaints the woman made with the university and the state alleging she was facing discrimination on the job.

Rochelle Hoffman, now UW-Eau Claire's senior academic advising coordinator, alleges she faced intense opposition for months in 2022 after being named interim director of the campus's Multicultural Student Services office.

The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents, UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt, and Assistant Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Teresa O'Halloran are named in the federal suit.

"Despite Hoffman’s exceptional qualifications, however, students, faculty and staff opposed her appointment to Interim Director of MSS solely because she was white," the suit claims. "It was exclusively Hoffman’s identity as white that was the issue; criticism was about her race and color, not her qualifications."

The lawsuit states that Hoffman worked for the campus's Blugold Beginnings office for six years before the promotion. The office served students described as underrepresented, low-income and first-generation college students.

After the promotion, the suit alleges the school's former Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Student Affairs Olga Diaz was told by students that they didn't want a white woman overseeing spaces intended to serve students of color. 

"The affinity model that had been in use at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire was premised on the idea that for a student to be well served, they needed to be assigned a coordinator of the same ethnic background and that a white person could not adequately support a student of color," the lawsuit claims.

Hoffman's suit claims comments and concerns from some faculty about the "optics" of a white woman replacing former DEI leaders who were Asian and Black created a hostile work environment that led to Hoffman being told she had to move into her current role.

It also alleges she was stripped from a teaching role and faced retaliation after filing a complaint with the university.

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