Oregonian
August 4th, 2015
An assistant professor who says she was fired after she told supervisors at Northwest Christian University that she was pregnant out of wedlock filed a $650,000 lawsuit Tuesday against her former employer.
The supervisors gave Coty Richardson an ultimatum: Get married immediately or declare her pregnancy a mistake and sever links with her romantic partner of 12 years, the suit alleges.
Richardson is expecting a baby in November, according to the suit filed in Lane County Circuit Court.
A spokeswoman for the small liberal arts university in Eugene didn't immediately return a request seeking comment.
The suit claims that Dr. Dennis Lindsay, the dean of faculty, didn't take the news well when Richardson informed him that she was a few months along during a May meeting.
"NCU's response was swift, blunt, and unequivocal," the suit says. "... According to (Lindsay), the issue was that she was going to be 'showing' soon and that many of the students and staff would start to 'ask questions.' Dr. Lindsay then demanded that she explain the status of her relationship with her partner."