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Christian assistant professor alleges religious discrimination at Delta College
Posted: 07.26.2011 at 4:23 PM
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A Delta College assistant professor says her religious beliefs are the reason she's been denied tenure.
That professor is alleging discrimination. Stephanie Baiyasi resigned from her position at Delta College because of these allegations.
NBC25 spoke with her lawyer and the college about the allegations.
Stephanie Baiyasi filed a lawsuit at the U.S. District Court in Bay City saying her religious rights have been violated.
She alleges that while working in the science department at Delta College, she overhead the department chairman David Bailey say he wanted to "crush all Christians" and referred to them as "bugs."
Baiyaisi campaigned to get Creation science into the college curriculum and was active in the campus Christian society as well as Bbible studies.
The college says it hasn't seen the lawsuit, but that it does not tolerate discrimination.
Dr. Thomas Lane, the vice president for instruction and learning at Delta College says, "Delta has a policy against discrimination of any kind for any activity. We have processes in place for those who feel they may have been discriminated against."
Biayai's attorney Victor Mastromarco in Saginaw tells NBC25, "They're saying they have channels. They didn't implement their channels. They didn't when she did complain, which is against their policy. There are numerous letters and meetings face-to-face with human resources personnel, and they took no action."
According to court documents, Baiyasi's salary was more than $82,000, and she's seeking more than $75,000 in damages.
The assistant professor says she is a dedicated employee and had more than 800 hours of unused sick time accumulated.
She also wants Delta to pay for her court costs.
Delta could not comment on the case specifically and will be conducting an investigation on the allegations.