Member of Chicago Police Department claims he was discriminated against at UIC Law
The University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. Photo from Wikimedia Commmons.
A lieutenant with the Chicago Police Department recently filed a state court lawsuit against the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, alleging he was harassed and discriminated against for being white.
John Cannon, 50, worked full time as a police officer while attending law school and graduated in 2021, according to his Circuit Court of Cook County complaint. It claims Cannon’s Facebook page was hacked and his posts were published to other social media platforms, which resulted in the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability initiating an employee disciplinary investigation against him. His story has been covered by ABC7 Chicago and Fox32 Chicago.
The lawsuit, filed Feb. 9, seeks unspecified damages. It alleges discrimination, retaliation, defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and claims the defendants’ actions have caused him emotional distress, humiliation, embarassment and future lost income as well as benefits.
Image from Shutterstock.
Included in the exhibits are two emails former dean Darby Dickerson sent the law school community. One, dated May 31, 2020, was in regard to images that arose from the police killing of George Floyd, and she stated the law school would foster dialogue about systemic racism on campus. The other communication, dated June 22, 2020, includes details about a faculty pledge denouncing racism.
Cannon’s complaint alleges that Dickerson’s May 31 email included a series of “hateful, derogatory comments” that were discriminatory. According to the lawsuit, he told the former dean he was offended by her email as a “white police officer,” and he asked that she not send him “disseminating offensive, discriminatory emails.”
Dickerson did not respond, according to Cannon’s complaint. Also named as a defendant is Tania Luma, the law school’s assistant dean of diversity, equity and inclusion. According to the lawsuit, Luma sent the law school community a flier, with a graphic titled “Breathe,” to promote a virtual discussion about police violence disproportionately impacting the Black community.
The graphic features a photo of people protesting Floyd’s killing, and Cannon’s complaint alleges the graphic includes the message “All Cops Are Bastards,” an expression sometimes referred to as “ACAB.” Cannon asked Luma to not send him emails like that, according to his lawsuit.
“In response, Luma told Cannon that she would continue to include him on emails and that he should ignore emails with content he considered to be offensive,” the complaint states. It also alleges Luma suggested he withdraw from the law school’s classes or “take an incomplete” if Cannon wanted to “avoid receiving future discriminatory emails.”
Cannon in June 2020 filed a complaint about Dickerson’s emails with the university’s Office of Access and Equity. His lawsuit claims that was at the suggestion of Luma and Jennifer Pope, an assistant dean at the law school who is also named as a defendant in his lawsuit. None of the administrators responded to ABA Journal interview requests. Neither did Julie Spanbauer, the law school’s interim dean.
Also, the action claims the law school perceived Cannon had a disability due to his complaints about communications he found offensive. Further, Cannon’s lawsuit alleges harassment against him escalated after he filed a complaint with the OAE. Following various communications between Cannon and the office, the complaint was closed in March 2021 on the basis it did not state a claim that would be in a protected category, according to the OAE letter attached as an exhibit.
Additionally, Cannon’s action lists “Professor Wesley Townsend” as defendant.
“Professor Wesley (n/k/a Maddie) Townsend is sued in their individual capacity,” states the complaint. It describes Townsend as a visiting lecturer in the university’s math department. According to a 2021 article in the Windy City Times, she is a UIC Law student and may be the first openly transgender student to win the “best oralist” award at the Burton D. Wechsler National First Amendment Moot Court Competition, hosted by American University.
Townsend also did not respond to an ABA Journal interview request. Cannon’s lawsuit alleges Townsend sent a June 24, 2020, letter to law school community stating that the National Lawyers Guild supported Black Lives Matter protests and had a commitment to “defund the police and abolish prisons.” Part of the email is attached to the complaint as an exhibit.
The lawsuit also alleges Townsend “hacked” into Cannon’s Facebook account, removed content from his page and posted it to other social media platforms.
“Townsend concealed [her] identity on social media and launched a clandestine campaign to retaliate against Cannon creating a profile under the Twitter handle, Wilson@sugaronmitongue,” the lawsuit states.
Among the exhibits are screenshots of 2020 tweets from the handle, dated June 25, June 30 and July 8. Some of the tweets describe Cannon as a police lieutenant who “enjoys trolling Facebook” with offensive comments.
Later, during the spring 2021 semester, Cannon had an employment law class with Townsend. According to the complaint, Cannon asked the professor to not assign him any projects with Townsend and to keep the request confidential, “so as to avoid further retaliation, harassment and discrimination.” The class was virtual, the complaint states, and the professor did ask Cannon to share a document with Townsend.
Additionally, the complaint alleges the professor posted her email screen to Zoom, which students saw, and included Cannon’s communication asking her to keep things confidential.
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