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Greek Professor Sues Asbury University, Kentucky

John Charalambakis from Kentucky, is a former Asbury University professor and has sued the school and its top administrators for discrimination.  The administrators involved in the case are University President Sandra Gray, Provost Jon S. Kulaga, C.E. Crouse, a member of the school’s board of trustees; Gregory Swanson, Vice President for Development of Asbury, and Don Zent.  Charalambakis states that they created a hostile and discriminatory work environment, breached contractual commitments and made defamatory comments about him.  Mr. Charalambakis alleges that the school mocked his Greek heritage.

John Charalambakis was born in Athens, Greece.  He alleges that he: “received unfavorable comments about his national origin and his accent” while he was employed by the Christian liberal arts school in Wilmore, Kentucky.   The former economics professor also alleges that he was harassed about his outside business interests, though they are not specified in the suit.  The suit does not identify those interests but says the university did not question the ability of other professors to conduct business outside the university.

A tenured professor of economics, Charalambakis ended his employment with Asbury on June 30th when the university did not renew his contract. He had been employed since April 1991 and received tenure as a full time professor in 1996.  Charalambakis referred all questions about the case to his attorney Ed Dove of Lexington, who could not be reached for comment.

Charalambakis filed a complaint in November with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights alleging discrimination. The complaint stated was: “repeatedly mocked my accent and treated me differently than similarly situated employees of American descent. I believe I was placed on probation and harassed because of my national origin, Greek.”  Asbury University denied all allegations of discrimination and said Charalambakis was not treated any differently and said they had placed him on probation for violating its policy and procedures, according to the lawsuit.  The university told Charalambakis that if he did not withdraw the complaint to the human rights commission, it would violate the terms of his probation. Charalambakis sought a review of the probation but the suit says the university refused a fair hearing.  The university claims that Charalambakis had failed to withdraw his complaint with the human rights commission and as a result his contract was not renewed in March.  In June, Charalambakis withdrew the complaint filed with the human rights commission and says that Asbury failed to follow its own policy and procedures and that the failure to comply with the probationary agreement: “constitutes a violation of a contractual agreement.” As a result, he has suffered: “economic and emotional harm,” the suit says.  In the suit, he asks for compensatory and punitive damages and damages for: “embarrassment and humiliation.”

The more definite statement was to be filed by Sept. 24th but nothing more had been filed in the court record as of Sept. 27th.

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