NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A former employee has sued New Jersey's state university, charging she was fired by Rutgers because she is a lesbian.
The plaintiff, Laura Federico, names Rutgers University and Jacquelyn Litt, the dean of Douglass Residential College, as defendants, the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick reported Monday. Federico, who says she was open about her orientation while working at Rutgers, charges that Litt "felt that women who had men behind them were stronger and better employees."
Federico was hired in November 2011 to do public relations promoting Douglass Residential College and dismissed last year. She filed the lawsuit in January and it was recently transferred to Middlesex County Court in New Brunswick, where Rutgers is based.
Douglass Residential College was formed in 2007 to give female students at Rutgers an opportunity to live in all-woman dorms if they wish and to participate in programs designed to promote women's leadership. Douglass had been a women's college within Rutgers but was merged into other liberal arts colleges at Rutgers-New Brunswick in 2005.
The university says Federico was fired because of the poor quality of her work.
Rutgers fired men's basketball coach Mike Rice in April after a videotape became public showing him yelling gay slurs at players.
