Mount St. Mary’s University settled a lawsuit brought by a former staff member who alleged he was fired for dancing at a shopping mall with a student of another race — triggering a “racist and repressive college administration into action.”
Mark Forte also alleged in his Los Angeles Superior Court complaint that college officials falsely claimed the dance was sexual in nature. His attorney, Bradford Child, filed court papers July 10 stating the case was resolved. No terms were divulged.
An attorney for the university was not immediately available today for comment on the settlement. In court papers, lawyers for the university said that no discrimination had occurred.
Forte was the director of the MSMU Learning Resource Center for 15 years and his job was to advise and help students, making himself available “all hours of the day and night,” the suit stated.
Forte was the only black senior staff member at the college and the majority of his colleagues were white women, the suit stated. Forte believed he was viewed by other staff members with suspicion, causing him to feel “isolated and unwanted,” the suit stated.
Forte was sometimes subjected to “belittling racial remarks,” including a question posed to him by a supervisor who asked, “Why don’t you be quiet and go play basketball somewhere?” according to the lawsuit.
The suit states that Forte walked over to the nearby Fox Hills Mall with a group of students, one of whom stopped to buy a day planner at the Victoria Secret store, the suit states. The complaint does not specify the date.
“As a joke, in response to some dance music playing in the mall, (Forte) performed a 30-second mock swing dance with one of the students,” the suit stated.
The dance was “a spontaneous satire on the popular television show ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and the dance music that blasted through the mall to entertain shoppers,” according to the lawsuit.
Forte grew up in a culture where dance and music are important and “could not possibly conceive of this dance being inappropriate in any way,” the suit states.
One of the students captured the dance on video and Forte’s dance partner posted it on her Facebook page, the suit states.
But the dance between a black staff member and an adult student of another race “triggered the racist and repressive college administration into action,” according to the lawsuit.
Although there was nothing prohibiting such such behavior off campus and after working hours with the student, Forte was fired effective last Sept. 2 and told his conduct was “incompatible” with the responsibilities of his position as well as with “the college’s values and mission,” the suit stated.
The college administration labeled Victoria Secret “a sinful place, born of the devil’s temptations, and a place where it was impermissible to wait while friends bought a day planner at the store,” the suit stated.
The MSMU website states that the institution is a “Catholic college primarily for women” that offers a liberal arts learning experience to a diverse student body.
