Metropolitan State College of Denver is currently investigating the claims of a student that a political science professor discriminated against him for being heterosexual.
9News first reported that MSCD student, Rick Foo, filed a grievance against an instructor who Foo claims targeted, insulted and harassed him due to his sexual orientation. The Huffington Post is not revealing the name of the professor as the investigation is still underway by the college.
Foo claims that the professor made sexual advances toward him and when Foo made it clear that he was straight, the student-teacher relationship soured. "It became a straight-bashing fest," Foo said to 9News of the severity of the conditions in class.
When asked for a statement, MSCD was tight-lipped for policy and privacy reasons. "Because we're now in the middle of investigating the student's claims we cannot discuss any element of his accusations," Cathy Lucas, spokesperson for MSCD, told The Huffington Post on Friday. "Once this investigation is concluded, we can discuss the findings with the student's consent."
The professor, who is listed and ranked on a website where former students can leave frank remarks about instructors and rate their performance had a majority of high marks. One student recalled the quality of his sense of humor in class especially with regard to political subject matter.
Another former student gave the professor high praises, saying that the professor is one of the top intellectuals that he's encountered.
But other students did give the professor low marks on the site. One of the lowest rankings came from a disgruntled student who suggested that the teacher may have, at times, played favorites outside of class and argued that the professor didn't adjust his style for different students' styles of learning.
But nothing on the website suggested any kind of discriminatory behavior that is being leveled against him by Foo.
MSCD has a standard equal opportunity agreement that it enters into with all of its employees that clearly states its stance on the matter, "Metro State has a continuing moral and legal obligation to foster equality at the institution and to ensure no one is discriminatorily excluded from its programs or activities because of her/his race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability/handicap, veteran status, sexual orientation or preference, gender identity and expressions."
When asked for a statement from the accused professor, Lucas told The Huffington Post, "The professor who the student is accusing prefers to follow the process and not discuss the grievance."
Lucas also provided The Huffington Post with the college's grievance form which, presumably, Foo submitted against the professor in question. It states that, if the accusation turns out to be false, Foo "may be subject to disciplinary action within the College, and/or external legal action from those falsely accused."
CORRECTION: This post has been edited to remove initially included information that could have been used to identify the professor.