Terri Bennett, an Anglo nursing student has filed a lawsuit against Pima Community College (PCC), alleging that she was unlawfully suspended for asking Spanish speaking students to speak English in class.
In early April, Bennett urged all the students to converse in English in classroom. She asked for the rule because all her Spanish speaking classmates were always talking ion Spanish making it difficult for her to understand and learn.
At the time, David Kutzler, nursing program director responded to the suggestion by calling her a 'bigot and a bitch.' Kutzler accused Bennett for 'discriminating against Mexican-Americans' and threatened to treat her complaint as a violation of the school's policies of discriminatory behavior and harassment.
According to the lawsuit, Kutzler told Bennett, "You do not want to go down that road."
On April 22, Bennett received an indefinite suspension letter from the school for discrimination, stalking, bullying and arguing with a professor about a correct answer to a test question.
Bennett sued the community college and its boards of directors in an Arizona state court over charges including harassment, breach of contract, retaliation, discrimination and violations of the Arizona Constitution.
At a meeting with, Kutzler and three more PCC staffers, Bennett, 50, was told that she will not get a job because of her wish to limit the class discussion to English. She was told that she might be suffering from a learning disability and was advised to attend counselling.
In the following months, she also received negative feedback from a lecture for the first time, blaming her for ineffective communication skills.
