By Corilyn Shropshire
An international relations professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago has filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging he was discriminated against because he is from Korea.
Seung-Whan Choi's lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, claims that after the Korean-born U.S. citizen was fired from his tenure-track position at UIC in 2011 and reinstated months later, he experienced years of discrimination and retaliation due to his race and national origin.
Choi alleges that he was ostracized and denied raises comparable to his peers in the department of political science. Choi also said he was forced to teach courses in statistics for which he is not qualified because, one department official said, "Asians, especially Koreans are very good at mathematics and statistics," according to court documents.
Additionally, Choi claims in court documents that he was forced to teach a course in Korean politics, despite having no formal education in the field.
In 2015, then-department head Dennis Judd changed an undergraduate student's grades without consultation with Choi, the suit says. When Choi asked Judd about it, the lawsuit alleges that Judd said Choi, "as a foreigner, has to keep in mind who he is dealing with and what he is wishing for," and that Judd "knows that many Koreans are stubborn and do not understand American culture of compromise when dealing with their boss."
Among other complaints, Choi also alleges he was wrongfully accused of being lacking in academic contributions and not providing sufficient service to the department, and was denied a promotion to full professor, according to the lawsuit. UIC's website lists books published by Choi in 2005 and 2016, and a nine-page curriculum vitae with several citations.
"They don't like Korean-Americans," Choi told the Tribune on Wednesday. "I'm supposed to be very submissive to the department head, who is white-American."
Choi claims he has no future with the department and that the situation has caused him anxiety and high blood pressure and has hurt his ability to be a good husband and father. "It's frustrating and sometimes I just don't want to go to work, because of ... the bad and dirty politics within the department," he said.
In October, the Clarendon Hills resident filed a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a few days later received a "right to sue" notice, according to the lawsuit.
Choi's attorney, Uche Asonye, said the plaintiff has not determined how much in punitive damages, attorney and court fees he is seeking.
Neither the university nor political science department head Evan McKenzie could immediately be reached for comment.