Opinion ID: 2997377
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Incidences of Racist and Other Offensive Com-

Text: ments The first instance of offensive commentary plaintiffs point to allegedly occurred in 1984. Gene Salecker, a white officer employed at the Department and not a party to this litigation, had a conversation with defendant Leenheer in which Leenheer referred to the father of a student protest leader as a “nigger.” A few years later, in 1987, when Salecker was the only white officer assigned to the midnight shift, Leenheer telephoned Salecker at home and suggested that he transfer to the afternoon shift so that “all blacks would be on the midnight shift, all the ‘donkeys’ would be stuck on the midnight shift and they can fuck each other around.” Leenheer apparently used the term donkeys to refer to blacks on a number of occasions during this time period. Plaintiff Smith testified at his trial that in early 1992, while eating lunch in the break room, he overheard Leenheer ask if anyone in the break room had seen him. Leenheer was apparently unaware of Smith’s presence. When no person responded affirmatively, Smith overhead Leenheer retort “I don’t like working with the nigger anyway.” Later in 1992, Leenheer arrested a black student named Victor Sellers. An officer informed Leenheer that Smith felt Sellers’s arrest was racially-motivated. Salecker gave a statement to the Chief of Police that was supportive of Smith’s perspective and conflicted with that of Leenheer and another officer, Robert Paprocki. Later, Paprocki called Salecker a “nigger-lover.” In 1993, Northeastern’s Affirmative Action officer Margo Smith conducted an internal investigation filed by Smith against Leenheer, Director Curtin and others. In this invesNo. 03-1196 5 tigation, she learned that Leenheer stated, “I am going to get these mother fuckers fired.” This statement referred to plaintiffs Smith and Reeves. In 1997, there were a number of incidents in which Leenheer was overheard using racial epithets. In the spring of that year, Mindy Tran, a student aide working at the Department, overheard Leenheer telling another officer, Hopeton Rowe, “I am going to get two motherfucking black niggers fired.” Later that summer, with Leenheer standing near her desk, Tran and another student, Yamileth Valdes, heard Leenheer say, “Oh, those motherfucking niggers.” Tran and Valdes complained to Guerrero about Leenheer’s use of racial epithets. Plaintiff Weaver also once heard Leenheer call Smith and Reeves “black motherfuckers.” Weaver’s staff reported to her that Leenheer and Connolly were “constantly talking about Officer Reeves and Officer Smith and calling them derogatory names such as ‘black niggers’ and talking about them losing their jobs” which caused the students to be “scared.” Delia Prondzinski, a fulltime clerk working under Weaver’s supervision, also heard Leenheer refer to African-Americans as “black motherfuckers” sometime in 1997. B. Possible Retaliatory or Otherwise Questionable Conduct Plaintiffs’ statement of facts describes numerous instances of complaints, and reactions by defendants to those complaints. As a result of Plaintiff Smith’s criticism of the black student’s arrest in 1992, Public Safety Department Director Curtin requested that the director of personnel discipline Smith on several grounds, including insubordination. Smith was suspended thirty days for which he submitted a grievance. Although Leenheer told Guerrero that “it would be best if [she] didn’t have to go” testify at the grievance hearing, she did testify. The grievance committee upheld the grievance on seven of the eight counts, denied it 6 No. 03-1196 as to the insubordination charge, and reduced Smith’s suspension to one day, finding thirty days to be unduly harsh. In April 1993, Plaintiff Smith filed an internal complaint against various individuals, including Leenheer and Director Curtin. A month later, Plaintiff Reeves prepared an internal memorandum to what he titled the “Department of Labor,” where he expressed concern about discriminatory practices in overtime, selection of the acting watch commander, and the general atmosphere at the Public Safety Department. Reeves also affirmed that Salecker told him that when he worked on Leenheer’s watch, Salecker would hear Leenheer’s “cronies” telling racist jokes. In March 1995, Smith filed a discrimination complaint with the Illinois Human Rights Commission. He claimed that he was given a warning for parking in a restricted parking space even though a white co-worker allegedly did the same and was not disciplined. Smith also contended that he was harassed and falsely accused of withholding information in connection with his inability to catch AfricanAmerican individuals who had allegedly taken a stuffed animal from the school store. Smith stated that white officers were not harassed or suspended for wrongdoing under similar circumstances. In March 1997, Smith and Reeves collectively filed discrimination charges with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. They alleged that Director Curtin demoted them from acting watch commander to police officer because of their race. The official reason given for Smith and Reeves’s demotion was that they had left their patrol areas without authorization. However, Smith and Reeves alleged that non-black officers had done the same several times and had not faced discipline. Also in March 1997, Weaver, Guerrero and Prondzinski complained to Director Curtin about Leenheer’s treatment of non-white personnel. At the end of that month, Leenheer offered Prondzinski a ride home. During the ride, Leenheer No. 03-1196 7 told Prondzinski that he knew that someone had filed a complaint against him. He asked her if she knew anything about it and mentioned that he “was going to do something about it.” Feeling “highly upset” and “slightly intimidated,” Prondzinski responded in the negative. After he dropped her off at a grocery store, Prondzinski telephoned Weaver crying and very upset about the incident. The next day, Weaver wrote a memorandum to Director Curtin explaining the situation. In this memorandum, she stated that Leenheer expressed his intention to call Prondzinski at home. Weaver expressed concern that Leenheer was trying to “incite bad feelings” in the department. Weaver also indicated her intention to contact the Department’s Affirmative Action Office. Two days later, Director Curtin advised Leenheer of the complaint in general terms and reminded him of the Department’s policy against harassment or hostile, offensive or intimidating behavior. About a week later, in April 1997, Weaver, Guerrero, and Prondzinski filed an internal complaint describing what they viewed as a growing number of racially-motivated incidents and retaliation. They requested an independent investigation. About a month later, Margo Smith of the Department’s Affirmative Action Office informed Weaver that a firm had been selected to formally review the Department. In early August, Prondzinski resigned citing “turmoil and stress” in the Department that had not been handled. Also in August, someone slipped a cryptic anonymous letter under Weaver’s office door, which she viewed as threatening.4 4 The message read: If you work for a man, in heaven’s name work for him. If he pays you wages that supply you bread and butter, work for him; speak well of him; stand by him and stand by the institution he represents. If put in a pinch, an (continued...) 8 No. 03-1196 The external firm issued a final report in November 1997. The report identified personality clashes but made no finding of racial discrimination. The report was shared with Department employees in December 1997. Dissatisfied with the report, Weaver urged the Department to hire experts to address racial discrimination. Northeastern responded by retaining Quest Consultants, which issued a final report in June 1998. Quest’s report concluded that while Leenheer’s behavior “does need to be redirected and properly managed,” and the facts presented suggested tensions in the workplace which “may appear racial in nature on the surface,” in the end, the facts “do not appear to support claims of racial discrimination.” In the meantime, a number of additional events happened. In December 1997, Officer Leyva stopped by Guerrero’s home and asked her foster children if she ever hit them. The children responded no. Smith filed another charge of discrimination with the Illinois Department of Human Rights in January 1998. In February 1998, Leenheer stated at a meeting that Weaver and Guerrero had made false allegations against him. He demanded an apology, and said that “those two will be losing their homes.” A few days after the meeting, Guerrero and Weaver again filed discrimination charges with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. They claimed retaliation for filing an internal affirmative action complaint in April 1997; harassment in the form of issuance of 4 (...continued) ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. If you must vilify, condemn and eternally disparage, resign your position and when you are outside, damn to your heart’s content, but as long as you are part of the institution do not condemn it. If you do that[,] you are loosening the tendrils that are holding you to the organization and, at the first high wind that comes along[,] you will be uprooted and blown away, and probably you will never know the reason why. No. 03-1196 9 tickets in September 1997 (Officer Hamideh, who reports to Leenheer, issued Guerrero tickets for lacking a registration sticker and for not having insurance, the latter of which was allegedly untrue); and for perceived threats, namely the cryptic anonymous letter, and Leenheer’s “losing their homes” comment. C. Employee Factions Officer Dwight Pearson indicated that by the time he began working at the Department in 1997, most of the Department staff had been divided according to race or opposition to racial discrimination. The Department had been divided into two groups, informally known as the “A team” and the “B team.” Smith testified that Leenheer was the person responsible for the creation of these teams, and deciding who belonged to each. According to Pearson, the “A team” consisted of Director Curtin, Leenheer, Connolly, Leyva, Hopeton Rowe, Robert Parocki and Leenheer’s wife, Chris Leenheer. All officers on the “A team” were white, with the possible exception of Rowe who was Jamaican and apparently did not consider himself black. The “B team” was comprised of Smith, Reeves, Donna Higgins, Pearson, Derrick Spenser and Salecker. Smith, Reeves, Spenser, and Pearson were black, while Higgins and Salecker were white. Plaintiffs perceived that the “A team” enjoyed more latitude on the job, while the “B team” was limited and often disciplined for engaging in the same actions as the “A team.”