The director of Georgia State University’s Middle East Institute has resigned and accused the college of failing to respond to anti-Muslim bias.
Dona Stewart said Wednesday the college did not adequately address complaints from a Muslim visiting instructor and doctoral student who said a senior faculty member at Georgia State harassed her last August. Stewart also said she and the student faced retaliatory actions because they complained about the situation and the university’s response.
Slma Shelbayah, the instructor, said she was repeatedly asked by communications professor Mary Stuckey whether she “had any bombs” on her body or under her hijab, an Islamic head scarf.
Stuckey, contacted Wednesday afternoon, declined to comment and referred questions to the university’s media relations department.
Shelbayah and Stewart, who remains a geography professor at Georgia State, have filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said their attorney, James Radford.
Georgia State officials are cooperating fully with the EEOC investigation, spokeswoman Andrea Jones said.
“The university takes very seriously any claims of discrimination,” she said. “In no way was retaliation taken against Professor Stewart nor the student as a result of the complaint.”
Shelbayah said Stuckey apologized to her after Shelbayah complained to officials. The next day, Shelbayah said, she was told she could no longer work as an instructor and be a student in the doctoral program. Several days later, she said, she was told she could no longer serve as director of a study-abroad program for the institute, but could participate as an instructor instead.
“The timing of all this was too much,” Shelbayah said Wednesday. “I just want fairness and justice. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
Shelbayah no longer teaches at Georgia State and said she plans to apply to a doctoral program elsewhere.
Jones, the university spokeswoman, said the handling of Shelbayah’s complaint followed university procedure and “appropriate action” was taken last September. Citing federal privacy guidelines, she would not provide additional details.
Stewart said she was subjected to retaliatory actions after refusing to fire Shelbayah. Stewart said she was informed by a superior that there was no longer support to create a bachelor of arts program in Middle Eastern studies and that there was “no energy” for the subject at the university.
Stewart said officials told her they were unhappy with her performance —- even though, she said, complaints had not been raised before. Stewart, a Georgia State employee for about 13 years, had been director of the institute since 2005.
“I felt that unless I stepped down the entire institute would be at risk,” Stewart said. “The saddest thing for me is we’re a better institution than this. That something like this could happen here is unbelievable.”
Jones said it was Stewart’s decision to resign as director of the institute. She said Stewart was promoted to full professor in April.
