Lawsuit alleges Wisconsin college demoted staff member from diversity role for being 'white'

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is being sued by a staff member who alleges her employer demoted her from a campus diversity office position due to her being white. 

According to the lawsuit, Rochelle Hoffman was promoted to UW-Eau Claire’s interim director of the campus’s Multicultural Student Services office.

Shortly after, multiple students allegedly filed complaints about her being in that position due to her being white, according to the New York Post.

“Do you personally feel white staff can do as effective a job as a person of color, within a space for people of color?” one complaint reportedly read.

Hoffman said she felt compelled to resign from the position due to the hostility of students and fellow staff members.

The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents, UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt and Assistant Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Teresa O'Halloran are named in Hoffman's lawsuit. 

"Despite Hoffman’s exceptional qualifications, however, students, faculty and staff opposed her appointment to Interim Director of MSS solely because she was white," the suit claims. "It was exclusively Hoffman’s identity as white that was the issue; criticism was about her race and color, not her qualifications."

Hoffman is currently the academic advising coordinator after resigning from being the interim director of the campus’s Multicultural Student Services office.

“As is the case with all pending litigation, UW-Eau Claire will not offer a statement or comment on the lawsuit. UW-Eau Claire does not discriminate based on race in any employment decisions,” a spokesperson for Wisconsin-Eau Claire told Fox News Digital.