A Chinese-American assistant professor, Dr Sean Wang, has sued Texas Southern Methodist University over discrimination and being favorable only to Indians. The lawsuit was filed last year but came to light now after being reported by independent journalist Chris Brunet. In the lawsuit, Wang alleged that the university has a systemic problem with discrimination, which resulted in him being denied tenure in 2024 while three Indian professors were granted the same in the Accounting department.
According to the lawsuit, the university told Wang that he was not a good fit and that he needed more citations and more visibility. He was called a "bad fit" at least 13 times, the lawsuit said, but an Indian colleague, Sorabh Thomar, received a positive mid-career evaluation from the department chair, who is also an Indian.
Naming chair Dr Hemang Desai, the lawsuit said that Wang was informed on November 19, 2024, by Desai that there was a negative departmental vote (3-1) in which all three Indian faculty members voted against his tenure, citing a failure to achieve outstanding performance, while the sole non-Indian faculty member voted in favor.
Wang said that from the beginning, Desai treated him differently and had higher expectations of him than his Indian colleagues.
The lawsuit claims that when offices were reassigned in the department's new building in Spring 2024, the Indian faculty were given prime offices with nice views, while East Asian faculty members were assigned to a "Chinese ghetto" down the hall.
The university denied all the allegations in their response filing and said Dr Wang is not entitled to any relief.
