A former Clark Atlanta University football coach has filed a lawsuit against the college and its president claiming he was harassed and fired because of his race.
Ted Bahhur, who is white, was fired in 2009 during his fifth season as head coach of the Panther football team because President Carlton Brown wanted a black coach, according to a civil suit filed this month in Fulton County Superior Court.
The lawsuit follows a racial-discrimination complaint filed in 2009 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC investigation found there was reasonable cause to conclude that Bahhur was discriminated against because of his race, which is a violation of the federal Civil Rights Act, according to a determination letter the commission issued last year.
The university does not comment on pending litigation, a Clark Atlanta spokesman said this week.
University administrators denied Bahhur’s allegations and maintained that he was fired due to his performance, according to EEOC information.
Bahhur was head football coach at Clark Atlanta from February 2005 through October 2009. Brown was named president of Clark Atlanta in 2008.
Bahhur’s record while head coach was 20-29, according to previous news reports. The team’s record in the four years before Bahhur’s hire was 4-39.
The suit also alleges several acts of discrimination and harassment by Brown and other university administrators, including then athletic director Tamika Jones. Bahhur say he was asked to perform duties and tasks that black coaches were not required to do, and that campus administrators allowed additional harassment, including his being called derogatory names by booster club members.
“It’s a real tragedy in the sense that Coach Bahhur loved the university and worked hard for the university,” said Edward Gadrix, Bahhur’s attorney. “It’s a tragedy that an institution like Clark Atlanta gets people like this that are running the school and ruining its reputation.”
Bahhur is seeking lost wages and benefits, compensatory and punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
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