Architecture professor Valeria Herrera files discrimination lawsuit against SU

Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Syracuse University Assistant Teaching Professor Valeria Herrera is suing SU, the School of Architecture and its dean, Michael Speaks, alleging she faces racial discrimination and a hostile work environment at the university.

Herrera, a Latina woman, joined SU as a part-time instructor in the School of Architecture in 2018 and became a full-time assistant teaching professor, the position she holds today, in 2019. The civil lawsuit alleges that, during her time at the university, she has been denied or passed over for tenure-track positions, program director positions, research grants, awards and a participatory role in the school’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Council. Many of the positions she expressed interest in applying to were ultimately filled by white men, according to the lawsuit filed on Feb. 20.

“The school uses (Herrera) as a prop, as a lure for recruitment, for mentoring of graduate students, and for producing the image of diversity representation in their efforts to appear as if they are committed to diversity, equity, access, and equality while simultaneously working to prevent (Herrera) from opportunity, access, and equal treatment,” the lawsuit states.

The complaint demands $3.2 million, according to the case’s civil cover sheet. Citing university policy regarding active litigation, a university spokesperson did not provide comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit lists eight causes of action, including discrimination claims under the 14th Amendment, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New York State Human Rights Law as well as retaliation claims under Title VII, NYSHRL and the Family and Medical Leave Act. The causes of action also included the creation of a hostile work environment and the violation of rights derived from the state’s constitution.

The lawsuit states that, under the leadership of Speaks, Herrera has “effectively been excluded” from DEIA involvement. She allegedly was never included or invited to participate in any DEIA events and meetings. Even as the only Latina working full time on the school’s faculty, she was never asked to participate in events for Latin and Hispanic Heritage Month, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges Speaks spoke to Herrera about serving as the school’s DEIA director, but only with increased restrictions as well as reduced support and autonomy compared to her white predecessor, Lori Brown.

While Speaks allegedly first expressed interest in her taking the position in March 2022, he next spoke to Herrera about the topic that August. At the meeting, he allegedly asked Herrera to “construct a blueprint-proposal for DEIA that (Herrera) would submit for his review.”

However, while Brown’s position allegedly did not have any term limits, Speaks “limited” Herrera to a single nine-month term, according to the lawsuit. At one point, Speaks also called the position “interim,” according to the lawsuit, which he would later amend “only after showing his true intent.”

Speaks also offered Brown “absolute autonomy” on programming, scheduling, agendas and the purview of DEIA at the school, none of which were offered to Herrera, according to the lawsuit. But, by meeting with her two weeks before the fall semester started, Speaks allegedly restricted her ability to “construct any meaningful fall programming.” Instead, he articulated his agenda and control over DEIA, the lawsuit states.

Speaks allegedly provided Brown 15 credit hours of course relief per academic year for the position and offered Herrera none.

In his communications with Herrera, the dean allegedly was “adamant” in his suggestion that she not speak with Brown until after she signed an agreement. Herrera claims that she then “immediately” reached out to Brown, who explained her own compensation, course relief and autonomy to her. Brown allegedly recommended that Herrera decline the offer.

The lawsuit also alleges that, in a November 2020 email to Speaks, then School of Architecture Undergraduate Chair Larry Davis nominated Herrera for a Meredith Teaching Recognition Award, a university award for untenured faculty. In the email, Davis allegedly wrote that it was important for the school to nominate a Latina woman for the first time.

Speaks did not respond to the message until three weeks after the nomination period ended, according to the lawsuit, adding that the award was for an “online teaching specialist.” The lawsuit claims that the award going to an “online teaching specialist” would violate the award’s “consistent annual basis for eligibility and evaluation.”

A university award program coordinator confirmed that the award has a “diversity and inclusion component,” according to the lawsuit.

Speaks allegedly nominated two white men for the award before the email exchange and nominated another after. Speaks also allegedly did not nominate Herrera in 2021 or 2022, which, the lawsuit writes, supports the assertion that the “obstruction” of her nomination in 2020 was not because of a changed theme but an act of “targeted discrimination.”

The lawsuit adds that no Latina woman in the School of Architecture has ever been nominated for a Meredith Teaching Recognition Award.

The lawsuit also alleges that the dean’s office denied Herrera the opportunity to work as a design studio coordinator during her time at SU.

“Multiple SoA-Bylaws-ineligible faculty members at Plaintiff’s rank, some below her rank, some part-time and some with significantly less teaching experience than Plaintiff, often white, or male or both, have been invited to serve in these … positions,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges the denial impeded Herrera’s professional growth.

The process of selecting faculty is a “secretive ‘tap on the shoulder’ practice” at the School of Architecture, the lawsuit states. Speaks allegedly assigned inexperienced part-time instructors — some in their first semester at SU — to serve as design studio coordinators.

The lawsuit specifically names part-time instructor Cait McCarthy, writing that she was assigned to be a design studio co-coordinator in her first three semesters at the school.

“McCarthy was one year out of school, has never held a full-time position, has never taught her own design studio, and who is Caucasian, was selected for three consecutive semesters, to co-coordinate studios and then later, asked to replace Plaintiff as the required drawing course instructor, though she had also never taught a drawing course,” the lawsuit states.

Herrera allegedly was never asked to co-coordinate a design studio. No Latina woman has ever worked as a design studio coordinator at the School of Architecture, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit refers to incidents dating back as early as the summer of 2013 when Herrera was a teaching associate in the school’s Three Cities International Program. In the program, Herrera was working with her domestic partner, who was the director of the school’s Florence program and directing the Three Cities program, the lawsuit states. Speaks disallowed Herrera from taking the same position for the next two summers, claiming there was an image of a conflict of interest, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that, since 2002, there have been 10 couples employed by the School of Architecture at the same time. Of the 20 individuals in those relationships, 19 of them were white, according to the lawsuit — the one remaining being Herrera. Speaks allegedly was “demonstrably supportive of filling positions and even in inventing new teaching positions for partners of spouses of faculty/administrators.” Speaks only aided white administrators who have partners with this, according to the lawsuit.

This included Speaks supporting then Graduate Program Chair Brian Lonsway in hiring his wife Kathleen Brandt to teach in the graduate program despite, according to the lawsuit, Brandt not having an architectural degree.

The lawsuit states that Speaks also created positions for other faculty’s spouses. After appointing David Shanks as Florence architecture director, Speaks allegedly created a teaching position for Shanks’s wife, Aurélie Frolet, for the 2018-2020 term. Speaks also created a new administrative position for then School of Architecture Associate Dean Julia Czerniak’s husband, Mark Linder, according to the lawsuit.

In May 2022, Speaks allegedly announced a program for funding summer research grants. All of the faculty members who applied were approved for summer research grants except for two: Herrera and her domestic partner, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also states that the university and Speaks retaliated against a February 2023 discrimination complaint filed by Herrera by replacing her with McCarthy for a required drawing course. Herrera states she had previously taught the course independently for four years and had received a unanimous positive teaching evaluation and formal recommendation for contract renewal.

After McCarthy declined the assignment, allegedly stating she felt uncomfortable as she had never taught the content, the school hired Omar Ali as a new faculty member to teach the course. The lawsuit alleges the two were required to teach digital content “in clear violation of the course description,” which then led to Speaks allegedly accusing Herrera of lacking “expertise.”

The lawsuit also alleges that the school denied Herrera standard multi-year assistant teaching professor contracts and instead offered her one-year contracts that she had to continuously re-apply for. Speaks and Czerniak gave out the standard multi-year contracts to “dean-favorite assistant teaching professors,” the lawsuit alleges, and renewed them without the required review.

However, the school’s administration allegedly used Herrera’s lack of a review as a reason to not provide her with the standard contract. Czerniak allegedly claimed the multi-year contracts did not exist when “she had administered them for some dean supported ATP faculty,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that, in 2019, Herrera told Czerniak she was interested in being the Florence program director for the 2020-21 academic year. Czerniak allegedly replied that the appointment was “all set” even though it wouldn’t be officially filled for months. The position’s three-year term went to Daniele Profeta, who, the lawsuit states, is the fifth consecutive white man to hold the position.

When Herrera expressed interest again in January 2023, this time to current School of Architecture Associate Dean Kyle Miller, Miller told her that Profeta would continue to serve as the program’s director.

Speaks, according to the lawsuit, made six administrative appointments, all of whom were white, in the spring 2022 semester without informing the faculty that the positions were open.

Speaks denied two of Herrera’s requests to be hired as an “‘Opportunity Hire’ – a designation that allows the school to hire tenure-track faculty outside of the normal search process to address issues and opportunities relevant to the school,” according to the lawsuit. After Herrera’s second request in March 2022, Speaks allegedly suggested that Herrera was trying to improperly circumvent the normal hiring process. The lawsuit posits that opportunity hires are “a normal and supported part of the university’s hiring practice.”

During the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semesters, Speaks excluded Herrera from a “major Drawing Workshop Series and Exhibition,” the lawsuit alleges. After Speaks and Miller — who was then an associate professor — worked on the series during the spring and summer of 2021, they asked Herrera if she would “‘help out’ with the logistics,” according to the lawsuit.

Herrera then asked if she could participate in the series as drawing is her area of expertise, research and teaching, the lawsuit alleges. Speaks denied the request, saying the event “came together very quickly,” which the lawsuit states is a lie. After the series, one of the participants was hired tenure-track for a position Herrera also applied to.

Herrera did assist with the workshop at Speaks’ request, moderating two “post-lecture conversations.” While other people involved in the series are presented on the school’s web pages, Herrera is allegedly the only person “entirely erased from this series of six events over two semesters.”

After being directed to negotiate salary, Stephanie Freeney, the school’s director of budget and administration, allegedly told Herrera that a negotiation would not be possible and that there were no additional funds for her salary. Four and a half hours before the school’s deadline for Herrera to sign her contract, the school told her that if she did not sign by the deadline, it would move on to new candidates, the lawsuit states.

After Herrera did not comply with the deadline, the school offered a $2,000 raise, an action that confirmed there was additional money available for salary, according to the lawsuit.

“Defendants were aggressive and threatening,” the lawsuit states. “It was a deeply stressful situation as (Herrera) had to basically play a game of chicken with her employer and risk losing her job.”

The lawsuit states the salary increase was relayed to Herrera over “an aggressive Zoom conversation with Dean Speaks where he scolded her for the timing of her actions,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges that the dean’s office instructed Andrew Molloy, the school’s director of IT services, to disable Herrera’s access to all “SU resources and communications” within two hours after the office was informed that Herrera was approved for medical leave starting that day.

Molloy allegedly “expressed concern for the scale and scope” of the action, which included restricting access to email, HR’s benefits and payroll pages, academic resources and all university-provided software. Speaks’ office then allegedly instructed Molloy again to cut Herrera’s access.

After Herrera asked about the legality of the restrictions, all access was restored, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that the restoration confirmed the “noncompliant overreach” and “vindictive motivations by the dean in an effort to punish (Herrera).” The school allegedly has not taken the same action against any other faculty member on medical leave.

“This is a lawsuit to vindicate Plaintiff Valeria Herrera’s constitutional rights and to obtain compensation for the violation of her rights under federal and state law, and for the economic, reputational, emotional, and mental harm caused to her by Defendants Syracuse University and the Syracuse University School of Architecture,” the lawsuit reads.