Thomas was the director of academic support services for Auburn football until March 1. Thatās the day Auburn fired him. He is now suing Auburn for discrimination. A lawsuit against Auburn was delivered in Thomasā name last Friday, and I was emailed a copy of the complaint on Monday.
It claims that Auburn discriminated against Thomas based on race and gender. Essentially, this is the case: a grade for a football player was apparently changed in December of 2019, and Thomas allegedly was fired for knowing about it, but his three superiors were not because theyāre white women. The lawsuit also alleges that Thomas experienced a hostile work environment and unfair pressure because football players were making bad grades.
Thomasā great sin against collegiate athletics, according to the lawsuit, was that he just didnāt keep his mouth shut and look the other way in a meeting with all the big shots. The lawsuit claims that a professor, in a Dec. 23, 2019 email, āpersisted in refusing to changeā a grade of Jay Jay Wilson, who had two āDsā and a āCā for the fall semester of 2019. Wilson isnāt named in the lawsuit, but he is identified as being a graduate transfer from Arizona State. Auburn needed one of those āDsā bumped up to a āCā to remain compliant with the NCAA, according to the complaint.
āDuring that meeting,ā reads the lawsuit, āMr. Thomas brought up that [Wilson] should have been ineligible because he did not receive two Cās to play in the bowl game, or to remain eligible for Spring 2020. Mr. Thomas raised concerns at that meeting but was informed āyou know his grade got changedā. The conversations were awkward, but Mr. Thomas never received any information on the grade change until that meeting.
āFurther when Mr. Thomas brought up the grade change in the meeting, it was laughed off by people present, as if no big deal.ā
That meeting was the beginning of the end of Thomasā time at Auburn, and if nothing else, it speaks to the pressures of big-time college football on academic support staffers. A year later, after Thomas had already filed one complaint about discrimination, Auburnās compliance officer told Thomas if he thought a grade had been changed and didnāt report it then that was a fireable offense.
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It claims that Auburn discriminated against Thomas based on race and gender. Essentially, this is the case: a grade for a football player was apparently changed in December of 2019, and Thomas allegedly was fired for knowing about it, but his three superiors were not because theyāre white women. The lawsuit also alleges that Thomas experienced a hostile work environment and unfair pressure because football players were making bad grades.
Thomasā great sin against collegiate athletics, according to the lawsuit, was that he just didnāt keep his mouth shut and look the other way in a meeting with all the big shots. The lawsuit claims that a professor, in a Dec. 23, 2019 email, āpersisted in refusing to changeā a grade of Jay Jay Wilson, who had two āDsā and a āCā for the fall semester of 2019. Wilson isnāt named in the lawsuit, but he is identified as being a graduate transfer from Arizona State. Auburn needed one of those āDsā bumped up to a āCā to remain compliant with the NCAA, according to the complaint.
āDuring that meeting,ā reads the lawsuit, āMr. Thomas brought up that [Wilson] should have been ineligible because he did not receive two Cās to play in the bowl game, or to remain eligible for Spring 2020. Mr. Thomas raised concerns at that meeting but was informed āyou know his grade got changedā. The conversations were awkward, but Mr. Thomas never received any information on the grade change until that meeting.
āFurther when Mr. Thomas brought up the grade change in the meeting, it was laughed off by people present, as if no big deal.ā
That meeting was the beginning of the end of Thomasā time at Auburn, and if nothing else, it speaks to the pressures of big-time college football on academic support staffers. A year later, after Thomas had already filed one complaint about discrimination, Auburnās compliance officer told Thomas if he thought a grade had been changed and didnāt report it then that was a fireable offense.
Lawsuit against Auburn casts light inside secretive athletics department
āThis culture is never going to change unless someone says something. I donāt know why all this happened to me."
