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SALT LAKE CITY — A Westminster College student filed a lawsuit against the private college last week, accusing it of discrimination, violating federal housing policies and invoking distress in relation to a series of housing decisions since she enrolled in 2017.
The woman alleges she was once forced to move eight times in a nine-month span and had been living without permanent residence for more than 100 days at the time the lawsuit was filed.
The complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on Wednesday, lists Katrina Cleaveland, a student and Utah resident, as the plaintiff and names Westminster College as the defendant.
According to the lawsuit, Cleaveland was admitted into Westminster’s “Legacy Program,” which includes first-generation college students who also represent underrepresented populations. In her case, Cleaveland said she suffers from “severe hearing loss” and also has anxiety, PTSD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the document states.
She said she eventually requested to have a service animal — an Australian cattle dog named Todd — accompany her around campus during her freshman year. The university approved the request and there weren’t any documented complaints until Cleaveland traveled to Idaho for a Residence Hall Association training conference.
Cleaveland needed to attend the conference as she sought a position within the college’s RHA the following semester, the lawsuit states.
Midway through the conference, an attendee complained that the dog growled at someone and Cleaveland was told she had to sit in the back of the room for the remainder of the conference, where her hearing disability made it difficult for her to pay attention to the remainder of the conference, the claim states. It added that no other individuals had reported the dog's growling or misbehavior at the time.
Cleaveland was prepared to serve as the vice president of the college’s RHA after the conference; however, she was told she was “not fit” for the position due to her ADHD, the lawsuit states. The position was later given to someone else.
That incident set up the first half of the lawsuit’s claims, which states Cleaveland was not given a requested on-campus housing spot with students who were willing to accommodate a service animal. The suit claims she was paired with roommates who were allergic to dogs, which led to housing officials deciding to move Cleaveland out to off-campus housing despite a recommendation from an academic advisor against it.
She was told to move again when an incoming roommate reported having a dog allergy. Eventually, the college moved Cleaveland eight times in a nine-month span within her freshman and sophomore years at the school, the lawsuit says. Those moves led her to spend “many months held hostage not knowing when she would be forcefully uprooted again,” the suit continued.
“Throughout this time, Katrina was frequently uprooted and her living situation changed at a moment’s notice, simply because of her need for reasonable accommodations for her known disabilities,” the lawsuit says. “Not surprisingly, the instability in Katrina’s housing situation was extremely stressful for Katrina and caused significant flare-ups in her anxiety, depression and PTSD.”
The alleged squabble with housing then came to a head earlier this year after an anti-Semitic drawing was found in an apartment she was living in. It ultimately led to an eviction. According to a document from the college provided in the lawsuit, an independent investigator determined Cleaveland had no participation in creating the drawing and there wasn’t evidence she was aware that the drawing contained anti-Semetic depictions; however, it did find her guilty of complicity because the drawing had been in the apartment for “an extended period of time" and it "created an environment on campus that a reasonable person would find intimidating, hostile or offensive."
She was suspended from college residence hall housing for one year on Sept. 17, the document stated.
The lawsuit claims the drawing had been left by an old roommate and that Cleaveland spent the summer primarily at home away from the dorm before returning to it for her junior year. which the lawsuit says she didn’t have time to see it. The suit also argued she wasn’t aware it was anti-Semitic during that entire time frame.
Cleaveland appealed the decision, but the university upheld a one-year suspension on Dec. 3, another document shows. The lawsuit was filed a week later.
The lawsuit alleges the college discriminated against Cleaveland by exhibiting "indifference and annoyance to Katrina’s reasonable requests for accommodation" and that the college also inflicted emotional distress over the ordeal. It also accuses the college of violating the Fair Housing Act for failing to accommodate Cleaveland’s disabilities. In addition to its claims against the college, it noted Cleaveland hadn’t had permanent housing for 109 days at the time it was filed on Wednesday.
A Westminster College official declined KSL.com’s request for comment on the lawsuit, noting the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prevents them from talking about a student’s educational record. The college, however, did provide KSL.com a general statement about its student policies.
“Westminster is committed to providing a safe environment for learning and growth of all our students. We take our promise to care for students very seriously,” the statement read. “Therefore, the college holds students accountable for violations of the Student Code of Conduct, Campus Housing Handbook, and Equal Opportunity policy among many other policies. Westminster’s core values include respect for diverse people and perspectives; collaboration and teamwork; personal and social responsibility; college-wide excellence; and high ethical standards.”
According to the lawsuit, Cleaveland is seeking injunctive relief to allow her back into university housing for the 2020 spring semester and to also remove any documented complicity regarding the anti-Semitic drawing from her academic record.
It also seeks “economic, noneconomic, general, special, and punitive damage” related to the case that would be determined by a jury.
