By Sarah Loehr
Managing Editor

A federal inquiry into whether or not Purdue retaliated against a student for filing a complaint of racial harassment has been dismissed; however, this may not be the end of the case.

On March 9, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights sent President Steven Beering a letter concluding the investigation into the case, which began in July 1999.

The letter stated that "Based on interview information and documentation submitted to (the Office of Civil Rights) by the Complainant and the University, (the Office of Civil Rights) concludes that the University provided a non-retaliatory justification for the adverse action against the Complainant. The University treated the Complainant in a manner similar to its treatment of other students in similar situations. … Therefore, (the Office of Civil Rights) concludes that there is insufficient evidence to support the allegations that the University retaliated against the Complainant after he filed a racial harassment complaint."

The incident in question involved then-graduate student Kendall Deas and his expulsion from the University in December 1998 for plagiarizing three papers.

Deas had filed a complaint of racial harassment against a professor in the political science department, which he felt directly led to the accusation of plagiarism against him.

Joe Bennett, vice president for University relations, said, "The outcome, from our perspective, was not unexpected." Bennett said the findings corroborated that the University's decision to "pursue discipline in the plagiarism case was not retaliation of any kind.

"I believe this constitutes a complete exoneration of the University's handling of the case," Bennett said.

Deas, however, said the case was "handled very poorly" by the Office of Civil Rights.

"I'm happy I have the appeal option and I'm exercising that," Deas said. He said the time frame to appeal the decision is open ended.

Deas is considering an appeal because of his concerns with the final report. "My first concern when I got the final report was that interviews from certain faculty were excluded."

Those interviews excluded, Deas said, were "interviews by faculty in support of my position — in particular, people of color."

He further said that "the U.S. department did not give me an opportunity to respond on record" to accusations made against him.

He classified some of the statements from the University in the final report as "outright lies."

Bennett said, "This is as far as it could go with the Office of Civil Rights" but that Deas could pursue the case further by other means.

In January, Nazim Arain, a legal assistant with Jesse Jackson's RainbowPUSH Coalition, confirmed that the coalition was looking into the case in "inquiry mode" and would be reviewing it to see where it could facilitate discussion between the two sides.

Deas said the coalition is still involved in the case; however, Arain could not be reached for comment.

Deas' lawyer, Michael Kendal of Kendal Law Offices in Indianapolis, was also unavailable for comment.