A Shawnee State University professor who was disciplined for using the wrong pronouns when addressing a transgender student is being awarded $400,000 after a lawsuit against the university.
The court ruled Shawnee State officials had violated Meriwether's free speech rights when they took action.last week a settlement with Shawnee State has been reached. As part of the settlement agreement, the university will pay $400,000 in damages and Meriwether's attorneys' fees and they will also rescind the written warning issued in June 2018.
"Though we have decided to settle, we adamantly deny that anyone at Shawnee State deprived Dr. Meriwether of his free speech rights or his rights to freely exercise his religion,". The university said it followed its policy and federal law that protects students or any individual from bigotry and discrimination.
"We continue to stand behind a student's right to a discrimination-free learning environment as well as the rights of faculty, visitors, students and employees to freely express their ideas and beliefs," the statement continues."Over the course of this lawsuit, it became clear that the case was being used to advance divisive social and political agendas at a cost to the university and its students.
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