Professor Terminated for Being Transgender

A transgender professor was denied tenure and fired from Southeastern Oklahoma State University for her gender identity. Rachel Tudor, who is transgender, was told by the school's human resources department that she could only use the single-use handicapped restroom after she underwent gender reassignment surgery.

Tudor, who taught for the English, humanities and language department, surmised that the request came from academic affairs vice president Douglas McMillan, who had once said that Tudor's transgender status "offends his Baptist beliefs," according to The Daily Collegian at Oklahoma State University. She was then denied tenure at the school and told that she would be terminated at the end of the semester, on May 31.

According to a petition in support of Tudor, the professor has been approved for tenure twice in the last two years by the Faculty Appeals Committee, but the administration re-wrote the Academic Policies and Procedures manual to prevent Tudor from obtaining tenure.

Bilerico reports that Tudor has brought her case to the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission, U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.