Former Baton Rouge Chancellor Files Suit

Black Issues in Higher Education, Jan 20, 2000

BATON ROUGE, La. -- In a lawsuit filed last month in district court here, former Baton Rouge Community College Chancellor Dr. Marion Bonaparte claims he was improperly and unfairly fired last August.

Bonaparte's suit seeks lost wages and benefits from his $82,000-a-year post plus damages for "emotional distress, mental anguish, damage to his reputation, public humiliation, embarrassment, impairment of future employment opportunities" and legal costs.

Bonaparte maintains that when he was hired in 1995 to start up a new community college in Baton Rouge, his engagement letter clearly stated that he would "be granted tenure in his academic area."

The lawsuit states Bonaparte accepted the job, moved to Baton Rouge and purchased a home there with the understanding that he would "have the security of a tenured position in his academic area."

The state community college board fired him in August amid allegations of sloppy bookkeeping and discrimination against White faculty members. Board members said they weren't passing judgement on Bonaparte, it merely wanted a change in leadership at the college.

At the time, the board asked its staff to investigate Bonaparte's tenure status and to try to negotiate a severance package with him. Bonaparte has asked for one year's salary, $82,000, as severance pay. Interim Chancellor Dr. Sammie Cosper says he and other officials consider that extreme.

Although Bonaparte's engagement letter approved in 1995 says that he "shall be granted tenure," Cosper contends the college's governing board never took formal action to do so.