Andrew Crighton
Life Editor
Idaho State University is currently involved in an ongoing lawsuit. On Sept. 16, 2015, Jun Yu filed a claim through the U.S. District Court alleging he was victim to “deliberate and unlawful discrimination due to his national origin.”
Yu was a graduate student seeking a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, and on May 3, 2013 received a letter from Dr. Mark Roberts, director of clinical training, informing him that he was dismissed from the doctoral program, while he was in the final stages. Yu only needed to complete one practicum.
In January, 2013 Yu began an internship under the supervision of Dr. Leslie Speer, Dr. Cheryl Chase and Dr. Thomas Frazier. After one week of the internship, Frazier withdrew from his supervisory role.
Speer allegedly had a phone conversation with Roberts that stated Yu showed a, “…slow learning curve,” and that Frazier believed Yu, “…was not ready for patient care.”
Their reports and evaluations claim that Yu had a lack of understanding in the nuance of language and that there was no progression; these complaints are what prompted his dismissal from the program in 2013.
Yu’s legal claim reports that throughout his time at ISU, four years of undergraduate work, and more in graduate school, he had performed satisfactorily, graduating with a 3.69 GPA, and that he presented and successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in English. He also taught a course in English at ISU.
Yu continues that he was not provided with warnings that dismissal was imminent and given opportunities for remediation.
The ISU Psychology Department’s Clinical Student Handbooks for 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 both include statements that if a student is at risk of receiving a U-grade, they will be notified before that semester is over and receive written notice of what the unsatisfactory behavior is, how to fix it and then a deadline for re-evaluation.
According to Yu, he did not receive any of these notices until the letter dismissing him from the program.
The basis for the discrimination argument is that Yu was the only non-white student in the graduate program at that time and that he was the only one who was dismissed without the proper process of notification.
Additionally, Yu alleges that his supervisors were not, “…culturally competent and specifically competent to supervise an international student…” because they could not provide supervision to him in his native Chinese while claiming that he had “…cultural competency issues.”
Yu is suing for legal fees as well as either reentrance into the program or the ability to complete the last remaining practicum in The People’s Republic of China. Yu was denied from doing this because Dr. Shannon Lynch, present Chair of the Department of Psychology, allegedly wrote, “The Graduate Faculty is convinced that a fourth “chance” (i.e., an Internship in China) is unwarranted and might put Chinese patients at risk of harm.”
At the time of writing this article, all statements made against ISU are allegations and no wrong doing has been proven in a court of law. No court date has been established.
It is ISU’s policy to not comment on ongoing litigation.
Jun Yu currently resides in The People’s Republic of China.
All quotes and facts have been taken from Yu’s legal claim filed in U.S. District Court and Idaho State University’s legal brief filed in response.
