A white student has filed a $2 million lawsuit against the historically black college, Howard University Law School, alleging racial discrimination.
Michael Newman attended the university in 2020 until he was expelled in September 2022. University leaders have created a “hostile academic environment,” he says.
In a group chat where Newman’s problems allegedly began, he said, “Where I’m part of the black community where they believe the government is going to solve problems, I see it’s causing problems.” The comment was made in response to a symposium where an African-American speaker said that if Biden and Harris win the White House, they will usher in a “golden age of environmental justice.”
While some students were willing to engage and discuss, others “reacted harshly” and contacted school administrators. During this period, Newman felt “totally disenfranchised” in Zoom Chat in his legal reading research and compared his experience to what a black person must go through at a predominantly white college. His comments were deemed “offensive” and classmates were “more openly hostile” and “conspired to expel him,” according to the lawsuit.
As crowds flocked to his education, Newman experienced “depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts” as a result of “public ostracism, abuse, and humiliation.” The lawsuit says.
While this was happening, Reggie McGahee, Global Head of Diversity Recruiting, told Newman that he was the most hated student since starting his career at the university.
McGahee eventually asked Newman to write a letter apologizing to his classmates for his insensitivity.
However, another professor spent almost an entire class discussing Newman’s alleged “racial sensitivity.”
Classmates said Newman was causing them “extreme stress” and distracting them from their studies.
Eventually, classmates discovered Newman’s private Twitter account and saw that he had once tweeted a picture of a slave, “but we don’t know what he did before the picture was taken.” “An attempt to explain away videos of police brutality by saying that the victim must have done something wrong before the video started,” he tried to explain away.
Newman eventually sent a four-part letter trying to explain himself, but classmates derided it as a “manifesto.”
According to a report by Fox News, “School of Law Dean Daniel Hawley secretly recorded a Zoom meeting with Newman and McGahee during which he suggested that Newman transfer to another school, allegedly accusing him of racially harassing classmates.”
“At a digital town hall where 300 participants attended to discuss the controversy surrounding Newman, Holly characterized Newman’s letters as ‘disturbing in every sense of the word,'” the report continued. “To try and protect him she blocked him from using several functions, disabled the chat function and turned off his camera.”
Holly accused Newman of “constantly harassing members [sic] Disruption of the Howard Law Community, and the Learning Environment at the School of Law.”
Newman filed a complaint against Hawley, alleging he perpetuated “intimidation,” “discrimination” and a “hostile educational environment.”
A committee convened on Holly’s complaint and determined that Newman was guilty and should be expelled. His complaint was never considered.
Newman is seeking $2 million for “pain, suffering, emotional distress and damage to his reputation.”
