Palm Beach Atlantic professor files federal discrimination complaint after being fired

By Katie Bente

On May 3. 2023

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Longtime Palm Beach Atlantic University Professor Sam Joeckel is fighting back after being fired in March.

The reason behind it was a parent who complained to the school, alleging Joeckel’s racial justice unit was indoctrinating students. Joeckel told CBS12 he never expressed his views or opinions.

“They wanted this to just go away and I made it my mission not to let it go away,” Joeckel said. “Feeling just completely disrespected by the university. Again I was there for more than 20 years. I was a full professor. You would think that having been there that long, they would trust me that I know what I’m doing. That I’m a good professor. I’ve been doing this for a long time.”

Joeckel told CBS12 that he wants justice for what the university did to him.

According to Joeckel, in his more than 20 years working at the school, he had never had a complaint issued against him or his racial justice unit.

On campus, students were shocked and organized a petition drive that was signed by nearly two-thousand supporters demanding he be reinstated.

“It won’t be the same without him and it feels like the number of safe people that were on this campus has definitely dwindled,” student Aaliyah Hirt said.

“Just having that with no closure and no cut-off and no end-of-the-year goodbye to him, felt like a really big blow from the university,” student Lee Ritter said.

Last week, Joeckel filed a federal complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claiming discrimination. Not because of his gender or skin color but his association with the content of his racial justice course.

“That’s the federal agency responsible for investigating and enforcing title seven of the civil rights act, which is the federal law that governs essentially discrimination and retaliation in the workplace,” Gabe Roberts, Joeckel’s attorney and associate attorney with the Scott Law Team said.

“I believe it is the most effective way to obtain justice. What the university did to me is unjust. Clearly, the fact that I was teaching a unit on racial justice factored into their decision to terminate me and that’s wrong,” Joeckel said.

Filing a charge of discrimination is a necessary step to eventually file a lawsuit in federal court if they choose to proceed to litigation.

Just weeks prior to filing a complaint of his own, Joeckel was contacted by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), which is an association compiled of academic professionals across the country. They conducted an investigation of their own, speaking with both Joeckel and the university.

“So this is the letter that the American Association of University Professors sent to both me and the president of Palm Beach Atlantic University,” Joeckel said. “Here is the final paragraph. We urge you to resend the notice of dismissal issued to Professor Joeckel and that any subsequent action be consistent with the AAUP supported procedural standards we have cited.”

But what happens next, comes down to the EEOC.

The university has not commented on this story, but the complaint will trigger an investigation. The process could take weeks or even months.

This piece was republished from CBS Channel 12 News.