A former Chattanooga State female police chief alleges gender bias in a lawsuit filed against the community college and the Tennessee Board of Regents.
Stephanie Hill asked for damages in the Chancery Court complaint.
The 10-page complaint says when she became employed at Chattanooga State in 2010 policing on campus under Bob Jackson and Steve Huskins was "flatly amateurish and a disorganized shambles."
It says no Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) files were kept on individual officers; one officer who had worked 11 years had no POST certificate, there was no campus emergency alert system or emergency plan, there was no budget for police and security and only one security officer had a complete uniform.
The suit says there was a missing gun that had allegedly been stolen, but not reported. It says there was no program of training for the officers and no effective relationship with other police agencies. The force had no radios and no vehicles.
It says Ms. Hill was able to make a number of corrections and improvements, and she was named director of police services in 2011.
The suit says Mr. Huskins never accepted Ms. Hill in her new office due to "gender bias."
It says he told her the first day she was in her office that he did not support her and he refused to ever call her "chief" as others did. It says he encouraged officers to bring grievances against her.
The suit says Mr. Huskins demonstrated hostility to women in professional settings, calling them various names.
It says some officers began complaining about Chief Hill, including one she had disciplined for giving his phone number to a coed whose case he was investigating and telling her to call him anytime after hours.
The suit says another complainer was a chronic poor performer who admitted he was close to "snapping."
It says the Huskins boss, Executive Vice President Tammy Swenson, looked into the allegations and found they were "grumbling."
The suit says Ms. Swenson in July 2014 told Deputy Police Chief Curtis Greene not to submit to court certain state traffic tickets issued on campus to an employee who was a friend of Ms. Swenson. It says Ms. Swenson became irate after Chief Hill proceeded to submit the tickets to state court.
She was called into her office on Aug. 29, 2014, and told not to bring her gun. She was handed a prepared letter that had the signature of President Jim Catanzaro saying she was barred from campus. She was escorted off campus by three police officers.
The suit says Mr. Catanzaro later informed Ms. Hill that he had not signed the letter.
An investigation of Ms. Hill was conducted by an internal Chattanooga State auditor and issued to Mr. Huskins - "the very person against whom Hill had made her allegations of gender bias." The four-page report supported her firing.
A probe on allegations of gender bias by Ms. Hill was conducted by the interim director of human resources at Chattanooga State. The 25-page bias report "made not a single finding in Hill's favor on gender bias."
Ms. Hill was notified on May 1 that she was terminated.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney James M. Johnson, says Chattanooga State is liable to Ms. Hill for back pay, reinstatement or front pay in lieu of reinstatement, compensatory damages for mental anguish, humiliation and embarrassment and attorneys' fees and costs.