Chemistry Prof. Says She Was Fired For Being Muslim

A chemistry professor at Kingsborough Community College was awarded $7,700 in back wages and $10,000 in damages after accusing the college of firing her because she is Muslim. Hanaa Khalil, and Egyptian immigrant, says the college hired her without seeing her 2009 after she posted her resume on the college's website. When she showed up for work, Khalil told the Daily News that the secretary "turned her face when she looked at me ... she turned her face like she saw something real bad. It was clear to me it was because they found out that I was a Muslim."

Court papers say Khalil was given a hard time for not having a Social Security card, even though she produced a passport, driver's license and green card. Department of Physical Sciences head reportedly asked, "Between you and me, do you really have a Social Security number?," and secretary Maureen Sharkey allegedly wouldn't let her use a laptop to make a Power Point presentation. When she complained to the human resources department, Mikalopas showed up with two security guards and told her she was fired.

Kingsborough spokeswoman Ruby Ryles says the college denies the allegations, but Sharkey reportedly doesn't work in the department anymore (even though she's still listed on the department's website). Kingsborough administrators have been ordered to take a workplace discrimination class. Khalil said, "I am hoping that I will be the last one to go through this at this school."

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By Jaya Saxena in News on September 29, 2010 2:26 PM

Comments [rss]

schenck

Hana Khalil was fired because she didn't bother showing up to teach her classes.

The Daily News article was complete BS. Erin Durkin and Corky Siemaszko, the 'reporters' at Daily News, they just believed Khalil's story without researching it. They never even spoke to Mrs. Sharkey, and Mrs. Sharkey was NOT fired by the college, even though the article gives that impression.

This liar, Hana Khalil, told them a story, and they just reprinted her BS. Khalil is a liar, she wasn't fired for being Muslim, and she wasn't hired without being interviewed. If Mrs. Sharkey and Dr. Mikalopas wanted to fire her because she was Muslim, then they wouldn't've hired her in the first place. They wouldn't've hired her or any of the other Muslims in the department. The idea that anyone was upset over a headscarf is laughable, Kingsborough is in Brooklyn, there's lots of students and employees with headscarves and the like on campus.

FWIW, she was highered as a temporary adjunct /or/ as a substitute. When she didn't bother to show up for her classes, she was told to leave. Then this liar defrauded the college, brought a suite against it, and was paid off to make her go away, instead of 'hush money' it was STFU money. That was $17,000 that she basically stole from the students there, their tuition covers her payoff. Hana Khalil is just a horrible, horrible person and a liar. Mrs. Sharkey and Dr. Mikalopas did nothing wrong her, but she's defamed them, and then once she was paid off, she decided to tell it to the papers too.

John L

Doesn't surprise me.

If it's true I'm glad she sued.

Sulayman

I find this story totally plausible. Considering that this year has been the record high for EEOC complaints about firings and harassment over religion (especially after the "ground zero mosque" flap), this is just another sad example.

schenck

Just because something is possible hardly means that it happened. That should be obvious.

Kelles

putting on a head scarf and crying 'discrimination' seems like a good way to win any case nowadays

nicemarmot

Oh yeah. I'm soooooo sure they hired her off the internet without ever meeting her. Because jobs are just that easy to get these days. Just email in your resume and they'll hire you sight unseen!

eastbwayanglo

Yeah, that's basically how it works at community colleges.

schenck

Maybe that's how it works at other schools and other departments, but the Physical Sciences Department at Kingsborough doesn't hire people 'sight unseen'. Khalil was granted an interview because her resume met the requirements for the job posting. The college went through the hiring process because of the departmental interview. Part of that hiring process was to get her social security card and the like, most of those requirements are from the city, state, even federal government, but Khalil could barely do that right apparently.

eyekantspel

"She turned her face when she looked at me ... she turned her face like she saw something real bad," Khalil told The News. "It was clear to me it was because they found out that I was a Muslim."

lol, having seen the picture in the Daily News writeup, maybe there's another explanation

JenChungsBaby

The only reason to enroll at Kingsborough is if you think the public beach next door is too crowded.

thefacts

"they found out that I was a Muslim."

With a name like Hanaa Khalil, what do you think they thought you were, sweetie, an effing WASP?

Which is worse, this b.s. or the ADL calling Roger Waters 'anti-Semetic" in an earlier story?

This shit has really gotten stale.

Sulayman

I think maybe its more than that. Hana is not that conspicuous of a Muslim name. Was she wearing a hijab?

Jamie McDonald

Sounds rather unlikely - I don't know how they do it at Kingsborough CC, but generally to get a teaching job in academia, you have to do a whole lot more than just email a resume.

kswissreject

While it does seem the university acted wrongly from her account, the part about the computer is stupid. She asked someone to borrow their computer to make a powerpoint presentation? I, too, would have said use a chalkboard instead. Where was her computer? Geez.