A former student in Western Kentucky University’s theatre and dance program claims in a federal lawsuit to have been subjected to racial discrimination and sexual harassment by a professor in the program.

Jada Jefferson attended the program from 2015-19. During her time there, she says that she regularly endured racially insensitive remarks and sexual harassment from her professor, Scott Stroot. Even worse, WKU officials did not act on a Title IX complaint against Stroot in 2017, and because they did not step in, his behavior only continued.

Last week, Ms. Jefferson filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The lawsuit names as defendants WKU, current WKU President Timothy Caboni and his predecessor, Gary Ransdell, former WKU theatre professor Scott Stroot, professor Michelle Dvoskin, theater, and dance department head David Young and one-time WKU Title IX coordinator Andrea Anderson, who is now WKU’s general counsel.

Ms. Jefferson states that she reported incidents of harassment to Mr. Young and Ms. Dvoskin, another theatre professor, in 2018, who did nothing, even though they were required by university policy to make a Title IX report of the allegations to WKU administrators.

Her attorney, Lindsay Cordes said,

“Jada had to endure continued harassment for the next eight or nine months with no substantive actions taken by Defendants Young and Dvoskin, as she was told by them there was essentially nothing they could do.”

The lawsuit details a number of incidents Jefferson said occurred in Stroot’s classes during her time at WKU, including:

• Multiple racist comments about African American students in Jada’s (fall 2015) class, including comments as to what they sounded like.

• Comments against Jada, including comments about whips, skin color, hair, etc.” during a spring 2016 Tai chi class.

• Jefferson notifying WKU administrators in fall 2016 about her objections to the use of racial slurs in a play involving Stroot.

• Stroot casting Jefferson as the lead in a spring 2017 play without auditioning her. “It is believed Defendant Stroot was doing this to apparently compensate for the prior racist and harassing behavior he had engaged in with Jada,” the lawsuit said. At some point during the production, Stroot “screamed at Jada in front of other people” that he was not racist, according to the complaint.

• Frequent comments to Jefferson and another student about their bodies while rehearsing for a fall 2017 play.

Ma. Jefferson also accuses Stroot of sexual harassment by holding Jefferson’s thigh during one incident and making repeated sexually charged remarks and jokes.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Stroot’s behavior of sexual harassment and conducting intimate relationships with students dates back decades. It states that Joshua Hayes, of the university’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office, told Ms. Jefferson that “15 recorded relationships” that Mr. Stroot had with students over his time at WKU.

Scott Stroot from teaching at WKU retired last year.

“It is abundantly clear that ... Stroot created a sexually and racially hostile environment that WKU appeared to turn a blind eye to,” Cordes said in the lawsuit.

Attorney Tom Kerrick, representing WKU, said the university would file a response to the lawsuit at a future date.

“We are aware of the lawsuit and we certainly take all these allegations seriously,” Kerrick said. “I know WKU did a thorough investigation at the time and determined that there was no violation of state or federal law.”

Jefferson requests an unspecified amount of damages in the lawsuit, including reimbursement of tuition and related expenses.

Former theatre student alleges discrimination in lawsuit against Western Kentucky University

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