A Utah man who alleged that his professor at Utah State University drew a racist caricature on a class board has settled his lawsuit against the school, ABC 8 reported.
Greg Noel said his professor drew a racist caricature of him. He also accused the school of conducting an "unjust investigation" that cleared the professor of any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit alleged that Noel was frustrated with a lab computer that was having technical issues, causing him to have an outburst. The professor, who was also the director of the school's Marriage and Family Therapy Program, told Noel to either seek therapy for his anger issues or quit the program.
The Salt Lake Tribune described the drawing as, "Noel’s tall, groomed afro was depicted even taller and sticking out wildly. His thick eyebrows were thicker and angry and furrowed, along with a huge mustache that took up much of his face. His dark skin was darker, too. And his eyes looked almost crazed."
The lawsuit also states that the professor made comments about Noel's Haitian background and suggested he could become violent in a therapy session. It then alleged that the professor drew the racist caricature, which was then accidentally projected onto the board.
After the school's investigation, it issued a written reprimand to the professor for racial discrimination, but the reprimand was later removed from the director's personnel file after a review by the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee.
The lawsuit was settled for $45,000.
