University of Hawaii-Hilo administrators have been named in a recent lawsuit filed by former athletic director Kathleen McNally who is alleging both racial and gender discrimination. We have not seen an intersectional complaint in a while, though how much credence a court will give the racial claim remains to be seen, especially because the evidence seems to border on hearsay. (McNally, who identifies as a white female, once heard an administrator say that the AD should be a Japanese male.)
But in a pattern all too familiar to us, McNally, who served from 2002-2008 when she was placed on administrative leave and told not to be in contact with her staff, had excellent performance evaluations but repeatedly complained about gender inequities within the department especially lack of funding. McNally feels she was blamed for the $500,000 athletic department budget deficit in 2008 when all she was trying to do was remedy historical discrimination against women's athletics. Her complaint also says she was perceived as being too aggressive in her promotion of women's athletics.
