COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A former journalism professor at the University of Missouri claims in a lawsuit that she was dismissed from the university’s School of Journalism because of her sex and age.
According to the lawsuit, Dean David Kurpius was required to lay off faculty at the end of the 2017-2018 academic year because of budget problems. Former professor Debra Mason, who was then 60 years of age, was among those who lost their jobs.
The criteria for deciding which faculty would be “more likely” to be retrained included teachers of core courses; recipients of funding outside general revenue; and faculty who worked in agencies or newsrooms, the Columbia Missourian reported.
Mason contends in her lawsuit that she met the criteria and was more qualified than younger, male faculty who kept their jobs.
According to the lawsuit, Kurpius preferred to work with people who didn’t challenge his authority, favored males and “quickly developed a reputation” for refusing to work with older women.
In her final year at the school, Mason was chairwoman of the journalism school’s policy committee, which oversaw Kurpius’ evaluation as dean. After she opposed a proposal presented by a committee appointed by Kurpius, she became a “target for his animus,” according to the lawsuit.
The school’s elected promotion and tenure committee unanimously recommended Mason for a three-year contract renewal before her termination. A male faculty member who was recommended for only a one-year renewal was retained, the lawsuit states.
The dean’s office declined to comment Wednesday. Kurpius has been journalism dean since July 2015.
Mason has more than 35 years of professional and academic experience, including 20 as a professor. She began working at Missouri in 2006 and is now teaching at the Harvard Divinity School as a Religious Literacy and the Professions Fellow.
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