Just a month after filing a lawsuit against Cal Poly for racial discrimination and harassment, professor Roslyn M. Caldwell dismissed the complaint on Sept. 28, according to court records.
Caldwell’s lawyer, Robert Jaret, filed the dismissal. It was dismissed without prejudice, which means it was dropped without a ruling but could still be brought back to court in the future.
The Aug. 23 lawsuit alleged that Caldwell, who’s African-American, was “subjected to racist and racially insensitive comments by multiple faculty members, beginning in 2007 through the filing of this complaint.” The suit outlined 10 violations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act, including racial and gender discrimination, harassment, and failure to accommodate physical disabilities.
Caldwell arrived at Cal Poly in 2007 and is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Child Development. She founded and currently directs the Bakari Mentoring Program at Cal Poly, which provides mentoring for at-risk and under-served youth in SLO County high schools. She’s one of only 10 tenure-tracked African-American faculty employed by the university.
Jaret was not available for comment before press time. Neither Jaret nor Caldwell has responded to previous New Times’ requests for comment.
Cal Poly Director of Media Relations Matt Lazier also declined to comment on the dismissal.
This article appears in Oct 13-20, 2016.