Interim president of Southern Connecticut State University Dwayne Smith was a named defendant in a discrimination lawsuit against his former employer, the historically Black Harris-Stowe University in St. Louis, Missouri, which recently concluded with a $750,000 decision for the plaintiff following a trial.
It was the second such successful lawsuit against the university that named Smith as a defendant in the initial complaint. However, in both instances, Smith’s name was dropped from the lawsuits as they progressed through the court system in Missouri.
Former theater professor Beverly Buck Brennan, who is white and sister to well-known ESPN sportscaster Joe Buck, sued the university, Smith in his role as university provost, and Dean of the College of Arts and Science Lateef Adelani, claiming she was discriminated against on the basis of race and gender and subjected to a hostile work environment and retaliation, according to the Riverfront Times.
The university denied all allegations and the case went to trial where Brennan was awarded $750,000, part of which she is donating back to the university’s theater department, according to reports. Brennan specifically named Smith and Adelani as contributing to the hostile work environment, although only the university and Adelani were named in the jury decision for creating a hostile work environment and retaliation.
It was the second such discrimination lawsuit made against the university that included Smith, who became provost of Harris-Stowe in 2010 and interim president in 2019, as a named defendant.
In 2012, Beverly Wilkins, a white professor, filed a lawsuit against the school, naming the university board, Smith, and two others as defendants claiming she was denied promotions and eventually fired due to her race. Smith was dropped from the lawsuit in 2015, according to court documents.
A jury awarded Wilkins $5 million in 2017 and the decision was upheld on appeal, with the appellate court stating “rarely have we seen such manifest and open evidence of racial discrimination,” according to the Associated Press.
Smith did not return a request for comment, and SCSU would only point out that Smith’s name was removed from both cases when reached for comment.
Smith left Harris-Stowe University in 2020, being hired as CEO of Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, before being appointed interim-president of SCSU in June of 2023 by Connecticut State Colleges and Universities President Terrence Cheng, to replace out-going SCSU President Joe Bertolino.
The position comes with an estimated $350,000 salary, according to Connecticut’s open records website.
As head of Housatonic Community College, Smith reportedly secured large donations and grants, including a $1 million gift to the college to focus entrepreneurship, and two $1 million grants to focus on STEM and advanced manufacturing, as well as establishing 20 partnerships between the college and local businesses and organizations.
“Dr. Smith is uniquely qualified to serve as interim president at Southern,” Cheng said in a press release. “In short, he has the skill and experience to be a highly successful leader for the Southern community. Perhaps most importantly, he is deeply committed to the university’s mission as a social justice institution. He understands the transformational power of public higher education and the awesome responsibility that comes with educating our students.”
A 40-year veteran of higher education, Smith also serves on the boards of a number of nonprofits and philanthropic organizations, according to his SCSU biography, and was named by the NAACP as one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut in 2021.
Smith described his appointment as interim president as “bittersweet,” because he would have to leave Housatonic behind, but said that he was “thrilled to be taking on a new challenge at SCSU, a university with a deep commitment to social justice and economic mobility.”
“Over the past years, I have worked closely with the team at Southern on a number of initiatives, and I look forward to building on that foundation to continually move the university in a positive direction,” Smith said in the press release.
In an interview with KMOV News 4 in St. Louis, Brennan said that in 2010 she began to experience a “very hostile work environment.”
“I had seen, not just myself, but many people treated in a way that I did not think was fair,” Brennan told News 4. “But I thought that maybe by taking this action, it will inspire or urge some change at the institution.”
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