WBRZ - Baton Rouge

Former Southern University Dean Damien Ejigiri is suing the university for discrimination and for wrongful "demotion" and reduction in pay.

Ejigiri started 2009 as dean of Southern's Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy of Urban Affairs and then briefly served as dean of the Graduate School.

Now, he is back at tenured professor status with a salary more than $30,000 less per year.

The lawsuit alleges the Southern Board and administration conspired to deprive Ejigiri of his legal equal protection because he is a native of Nigeria.

Southern's legal response argues that the pay cut is not a reduction in pay, but a reduction in work because moving from dean to professor entails switching from a 12-month employee to a nine-month employee.