Racial profiling protest cost U employee her job, lawsuit says

A former University of Minnesota employee has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that she lost her job in the Office for Equity and Diversity for raising concerns about racial profiling on campus.

Alysia Lajune of Woodbury says that she was forced out as a vice president's assistant in 2014 after she criticized university officials for identifying suspects in campus crime alerts as black males.

Lajune, then president of the U's Black Faculty and Staff Association, was one of a chorus of critics who argued that the alerts were so vague that they cast suspicion on black men in general.

After she aired her grievances at a public forum in January 2014, Lajune received a warning letter and was ultimately fired for "exercising her right to free speech," according to the lawsuit, which was filed recently in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

In the suit, Lajune also alleges that she was required to run personal errands during business hours for her former boss, Katrice Albert, the vice president for equity and diversity. She said she was asked to find doctors and dentists for Albert and her boyfriend, and that Albert had an extra house key made so Lajune could supervise maintenance work at her home.

University officials issued a brief statement this week saying they are "aware of the lawsuit filed by Ms. Lajune, and we believe the claims are without merit." The suit names Albert and President Eric Kaler as well as the U, accusing them of defamation and violating her First Amendment rights.

"Public employees should be allowed to speak out on matters of public concern," said Zorislav Leyderman, a Minneapolis attorney representing Lajune. "They shouldn't have to fear that something that they say … is going to catch up to them and get them thrown out of their work."

Lajune, 40, who has a master's degree in counseling, said she started raising concerns about the wording of the crime alerts in 2013. That fall, the U sent out a series of alerts about robberies and assaults, many identifying the suspects as black males. Lajune said staff and students were worried that the alerts, without more detailed descriptions, would inflame racial profiling on campus, and she organized a meeting with campus police to air those complaints.

At the January forum, Lajune said she called a U official's assertion that there had been no reports of racial profiling on campus "a slap in the face." Five days later, Albert called her in and "berated and demeaned her for her comments at the forum," the suit says. It also claims that Albert told her Kaler considered Lajune "a liability" and that the only reason she didn't lose her job immediately was "because there would be a backlash from the black community."

In an interview, Lajune said that she had only positive feedback from Albert until then. At the same time, she said she considered Albert's requests to run her personal errands inappropriate and complained to one colleague, but never pressed the issue beyond that.

After the forum, her relationship with her boss soured, according to the lawsuit, and Lajune took a medical leave following a mental health crisis. She learned in May 2014 that her job would not be renewed in the fall.

Last year, after protesters briefly took over Kaler's office, the U agreed to modify its crime alerts to limit racial descriptions of suspects unless they included more details.

Lajune, who now works in student affairs at Metro State University, said the change is a step in the right direction. But she believes the U should have listened sooner. "I felt like I was fanning a flame that they were trying to put out."

Maura Lerner • 612-673-7384