Kemp Trial Jurors Instructed Not to Weigh Special Treatment Given College Athletes
A federal judge instructed a jury Monday to ignore the University of Georgia’s special treatment of student-athletes in considering whether a teacher was fired for protesting that treatment.
U.S. District Judge Horace Ward told the five-woman, one-man jury not to consider the merits of the university’s Developmental Studies program nor whether athletes received special treatment in classrooms. He said it must consider whether Jan Kemp’s position on those issues was the “substantial and motivating factor” leading to her demotion and eventual dismissal.
The jury began deliberating about 4:30 p.m. and recessed for the day 75 minutes later. Ward instructed them to resume deliberations at 9:30 a.m. today.
Kemp, former English coordinator in Georgia’s remedial Developmental Studies program, is suing program director Leroy Ervin and Vice President for Academic Affairs Virginia Trotter, contending that her 1983 firing was in retaliation for her outspoken criticism of preferential classroom treatment for football players and other athletes.
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