Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore, MarylandiStock

A former University of Maryland professor is alleging in a lawsuit that she was fired from the school as “retaliation” for openly practicing Judaism and then filing a grievance complain about the discrimination she faced.

According to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which is representing Dr. Melissa Landa in the Title VII civil rights lawsuit against the University of Maryland, the academic was a professor at the school for 10 years and “everything was going well until she started to become more open about her Jewish beliefs” leading to her dismissal in 2018.

The lawsuit in the US District Court of Maryland made the claim that Landa faced “a series of actions designed to alienate, humiliate, and ultimately terminate Dr. Landa in retaliation for her constitutionally and statutorily protected speech and religious beliefs and affiliations” after she began to speak out against antisemitism and joined an anti-BDS group.

“As Dr. Landa’s efforts and involvement in raising awareness of antisemitism became more public, the conduct of Dr. Landa’s supervisors towards her suddenly and drastically changed for the worse,” the lawsuit said.

In response to her activism, Landa’s lawsuit described measures taken against her that negatively impacted her career at the institution. Her department chair also made it known that they did not approve of a trip she took to Israel for Passover in 2016, though she had been granted previous approval. She was later informed she would not be teaching a literacy course she had taught for a long time, a move that risked a research grant she had been given by the Levinsky College of Education in Israel.

In June 2017, Dr. Landa filed a claim of discrimination and retaliation with the Office of Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct at the University of Maryland.

“They determined that no discrimination or retaliation had occurred, but their report shows that the investigator contacted only two of Dr. Landa's eight witnesses," the ACLJ said in a statement. "In January 2018, Dr. Landa filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In April 2020, the EEOC determined a reasonable cause finding against the university; and in May, the university rejected conciliation attempts. The Department of Justice issued a right-to-sue letter, and the ACLJ has now filed a Title VII complaint on behalf of Dr. Landa.”

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)