An adviser from the College of Science and Technology filed a federal lawsuit against Temple yesterday, the Philadelphia Daily News reported. He says he was denied a promotion on the basis of his race.

Kenneth Ruff, who is African American, advises CST students with last names N through O. He also advises for TUTeach, a program for preparing high school math and science teachers.

According to the Daily News, Ruff said in the suit that he was the only African American among five advisers when the advising program was reorganized in 2010. CST’s website currently lists nine advisers.

The 2010 reorganization established a career ladder and new positions like Advisor I and II, Senior Advisor and Principal Advisor. Ruff’s applications for the latter two were denied. They were potential promotions in both salary and title, the Daily News reported.

According to the Daily News, Ruff’s suit said two people who are Caucasian with “significantly less experience” received the promotions.

One of the people promoted was an adviser for only four months, and the other previously served as an enrollment and retention coordinator.

A request for comment from Ruff was pending.

Additionally, Ruff’s suit quoted from a paper penned by an administrator who denied him the promotions. He presented the quotation as “evidence of [Temple’s] discriminatory intent.” Matthew Campbell, then-director of CST’s Office of Student Services, wrote the paper for his doctoral program.

According to the suit, Campbell wrote “I sense that I am always limited by my identity as a white, middle-class male of protestant background. . . . I’m still suspect of my own intentions, aware of my subconscious desire for self-preservation/promotion and the [white] privilege granted to me unwittingly.”

Campbell now serves as Vice President for Learning and Student Success at Pierce College in Puyallup, Washington. A request for comment was pending.

Ruff wrote in the suit that he obtained a “notice of right to sue” from the federal government’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Temple spokesman Ray Betzner said in a statement: “Mr. Ruff, who continues to be employed at Temple, bases his complaint on claims that are roughly four years old. The EEOC has already reviewed his case and closed it after finding no evidence of any violation of law.”

            Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.