A Black man who alleges his position as a Cal State Northridge senior associate athletic director was wrongfully eliminated in 2022 because he had made a racial harassment complaint against a colleague can proceed to trial with the remaining claims in his lawsuit against the Cal State Board of Trustees, a judge has ruled.
Plaintiff Julius Hicks also contends in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that rather than investigate his complaint, the university did away with the jobs of both the plaintiff and his alleged harasser. On Tuesday, Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis denied the trustees’ motion to dismiss Hicks’ claims for retaliation as well as harassment based on gender and race.
“Not only could the evidence presented by both the defendant and the plaintiff constitute a prima facie case (of retaliation), there are triable issues of material fact as to whether there was a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason for the termination or whether the action was motivated by plaintiff’s filing a Title IX action,” the judge wrote.
In their court papers, Hicks’ attorneys stated that when the evidence is “viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, a reasonable jury could find that Hicks was subjected to a sustained pattern of workplace harassment and professional sabotage, that CSU failed to timely and adequately respond despite having authority to intervene and that CSU’s removal of plaintiff was retaliatory…,” the Hicks lawyers state in their court papers.
A white, female senior administrator repeatedly targeted Hicks’ credibility and standing, including by fixating on his compensation and escalating to an accusation that the plaintiff was “stealing money from the state,” according to Hicks’ lawyers pleadings.
According to the CSU attorneys’ court papers, CSUN appointed Mike Izzi as its athletic director in July 2018 and by spring of 2019, Izzi hired a new team of senior athletics administrators who would each report directly to him. The hirings included Hicks, who had worked with Izzi previously at Stanford University and UC Irvine, the CSU lawyers further state in their court papers.
As senior associate athletic director for external relations, Hicks’ job primarily dealt with fundraising for the athletic department, athletics media relations and marketing, obtaining and managing corporate sponsorships and serving as the dedicated athletics administrator for the men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as the men’s and women’s golf teams, the CSU lawyers further state in their pleadings.
In March 2020, Hicks raised concerns to CSUN’s associate vice president of human resources about a female administrator allegedly complaining to other athletics employees about her salary in comparison to the plaintiff’s, the CSU attorneys further state in their court papers.
When Hicks learned two years later that the same colleague was allegedly once again complaining about her pay compared to his, he filed a Title IX complaint alleging she was targeting him on the basis of his race and gender, the CSU lawyers further state in their court papers. The investigation showed no violation of CSU policy by Hicks’ colleagues and the plaintiff’s position was eliminated in November 2022 under the leadership of the new athletic director, Shawn Chin-Farrell, the CSU attorneys further state in their court papers.
Trial of Hicks’ case is scheduled Feb. 1, 2027.