A former Kennesaw State University (KSU) cheerleader has filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging her constitutional rights were violated when the school punished her after she took a knee to protest police brutality during a game last year.
Plaintiff Tommia Dean claimed she was punished when she tried out this year and did not make the team. She named KSU President Sam Olens, Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren, retiring Georgia State Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, and two of the school’s senior associate athletic directors — Scott Whitlock and Matt Griffin — as defendants,
Dean claimed in her lawsuit that the day after she and five other cheerleaders knelt in protest, Ehrhart, who chairs the House committee responsible for allocating funds to the state’s colleges and universities, called associate athletic director Whitlock and told him that they should not be allowed to kneel.
On Oct. 2, Olens allegedly attended a meeting of the state’s university presidents where they were advised by Attorney General Chris Carr that students could not be prohibited from protesting so long as the expression wasn’t disruptive.
Ehrhart, allegedly, went so far as to call Olens, after the presidents’ meeting, and suggest the cheerleaders be kicked off the team.
“Either during this phone call or another communication, Olens assured Ehrhart that the cheerleaders at KSU would not again be kneeling during the national anthem,” according to the complaint. A couple days later, Griffin, KSU’s interim athletic director at the time, called a meeting in which he allegedly determined that the cheerleaders would not be allowed on the field during the playing of the anthem at future games. The lawsuit notes text exchanges between Warren and Ehrhart in which the men discussed keeping the students in the tunnel.
Count one of the complaint centered on Section 1983.
“Kneeling during the national anthem constitutes expressive speech protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,” according to the plaintiff. “The actions of defendants Whitlock and Griffin constituted a conspiracy with Olens to deprive Plaintiff Dean of her constitutional rights guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
“By prohibiting the cheerleaders, including plaintiff Dean, from taking the field and kneeling during the national anthem, defendant Olens, Whitlock and Griffin in conspiracy under the pretext of improving the fan experience and acting under color of state law, violated plaintiff Dean’s clearly established constitutional rights of which a reasonable person and government official would have known.
“As a result of the conduct of Olens, Whitlock and Griffen, plaintiff Dean has suffered actual compensable injury, including the onset and increase in migraine headaches and emotional distress over the loss of her constitutional rights and the threat of retaliatory action.
“In the alternative to actual compensatory damages, the plaintiff is entitled to an award of nominal damages for the violation of her constitutional rights. The plaintiff also is entitled to an award of punitive damages because these defendants’ conduct involves recklessness or callous indifference to the federally protected rights of others, including the plaintiff.”
Count two of the complaint alleged that Ehrhart and Warren “were participating in a private conspiracy actionable under the Ku Klux Klan Act” of 1871.
“All of the KSU cheerleaders who knelt during the national anthem are African American, and the purpose of kneeling during the national anthem is to protest police brutality against African Americans. Defendants Ehrhart and Warren engaged in the conspiracy against the plaintiff because of her race and because of she was protesting police brutality against African Americans.
“Defendant Ehrhart and Warren engaged in a conspiracy for the purpose of influencing the state to deprive plaintiff Dean of her federally protected constitutional rights, took affirmative actions in furtherance of that conspiracy, and succeeded in influencing the state to in fact deprive the plaintiff Dean of her federally protected constitutional rights.
“As a result of the conduct of defendants Ehrhart and Warren, plaintiff Dean has suffered actual compensable injury, as alleged above. In the alternative to actual compensatory damages, the plaintiff is entitled to an award of nominal damages for the violation of her constitutional rights. The plaintiff also is entitled to an award of punitive damages because the defendants’ conduct involves recklessness or callous indifference to the federally protected rights of others, including the plaintiff.”
Ehrhart’s office issued the following statement: “Rep. Ehrhart was not present when the protests first occurred and only acted in response to numerous complaints from his constituents, who asked that he relay their concerns to those in positions of authority. Rep. Ehrhart did not act in response to the race of anyone. We look forward to vindicating the good name and reputation of a faithful public servant like Rep. Ehrhart.”
