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Michael Newman, a white college student who was expelled from Howard University School of Law last September, is taking the storied HBCU to court for a reported $2 million in damages. According to his lawsuit, Newman alleges that racial discrimination from students and staff led to “pain, suffering, emotional anguish and damage to his reputation.”
Shortly after Newman joined the law school in the fall of 2020, a symposium was held to discuss the upcoming presidential election. In his documents, Newman says he went to a professor’s webpage afterwards to ask “whether: (1) Black voters didn’t question turning to government for solutions, and (2) reliably voting for the same party every election disincentivized both parties from responding to the needs of the black communities.”
However, he alleges that a number of students were upset with him for his remarks. Newman asserts he was removed because of the questions, leaving him feeling “disenfranchised” and purportedly like a Black student at a PWI. He also maintains he was called names like “White Panther” and “Mayo King” as taunts over his skin color.
But the most hostile episode in the suit involves when one of Newman’s classmates stumbled on his Twitter account. Neman reposted a photo of a slave with scars on his back with the caption: “But we don’t know what he did before the picture was taken!”
Frank Tramble, university vice president and chief communications officer, put out a statement that Newman’s recount of events is a falsehood. Moreover, he explained why Howard University finally decided to boot him last year.
“The University is prepared to vigorously defend itself in this lawsuit as the claims provide a one-sided and self-serving narrative of the events leading to the end of the student’s enrollment at the University. Mr. Newman came to Howard having had a career outside of law and was granted a University scholarship,” Tramble told BET in a statement.
“Mr. Newman then displayed a pattern of antagonizing actions against other students in the law school,” he added. “This includes Mr. Newman using the untimely death of a fellow law student to further his views on COVID-19 and the vaccines. After following the University’s disciplinary policies, Mr. Newman was expelled for disruptive and harassing conduct.”
The case is scheduled to be officially heard in court April 21. See how Twitter’s reacting to the lawsuit below.
