Minnesota State University, Mankato reached a $117,500 settlement with a former professor who sued the university for discrimination after he was passed over for a tenure-track position.
Minnesota State Mankato settles suit with ex-professor who claimed bias over accent
The school paid $117,500 to settle a lawsuit by Ka-Wah Wong, who claimed he was denied a tenure-track job due to his Cantonese accent.
January 6, 2023 at 5:07PM
Ka-Wah Wong sued the university in October 2021, alleging faculty in the public university's physics and astronomy department purposefully scored him lower in a job evaluation due to his Cantonese accent, and offered the job to two other white candidates who weren't as qualified.
"I was shocked that such unfair treatment would happen at Minnesota State, Mankato … which is supposed to promote equity and inclusiveness," Wong said in an email. "I hope my experience can inspire positive changes in the personnel practice in higher education and other organizations."
The university and Wong settled last fall. The suit was dismissed in November. Under the settlement terms, Wong agreed to not apply for another position at Minnesota State Mankato and released any further claims against the university.
Minnesota State University Mankato spokesperson Daniel Benson said in a statement that the university denies any wrongdoing and won't comment further on the hiring process involving Wong.
The school is "fully committed to equal opportunity and non-discrimination in employment and education, and we are proud of our track record in this area," Benson said. "We believe the diversity of our faculty, staff, and students is a tremendous asset and is an important contributor to the student experience."
Wong taught as an adjunct astronomy professor in Mankato starting in 2014. He moved up to an assistant professor job in 2017 and a research position in 2018. He applied for an open tenure-track professor job in 2017 and was one of three finalists, according to the suit.
After university officials offered the job to the other candidates, one of whom turned it down, Wong claims in the suit that other faculty "expressed significant misgivings" to him over the hiring process.
Wong discovered the person hired by the university had much less teaching experience, never taught in Mankato and had three years' less postdoctoral experience. Wong later found, in a teaching evaluation where students and faculty judged him, that faculty had rated him lower than students did because of his accent.
Wong, who grew up in Hong Kong, claims in the suit he was given excellent reviews in the past despite his accent and that it had never been an issue in his previous work in Mankato. The hiring committee's summary report indicates he was passed over for the job almost entirely due to his evaluation scores, the suit alleges, while faculty had no trouble understanding him during other parts of the hiring process.
Wong left the school in 2018. He now works as a physics professor at State University of New York.
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