Employment Law for Business 6th Edition by Dawn Bennett Alexander ,Laura Hartman

Exercise 16

Kristine Naragon was a graduate assistant for Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge's School of Music. She mainly had teaching responsibilities and was often praised for her work and dedication. When the university discovered that she was a lesbian and was involved with a student, the school of music renewed her yearly contract but revoked teaching responsibilities and replaced them with purely research-oriented responsibilities. Naragon claims that her privacy rights and her freedom of association rights were violated because she is a lesbian, and she wants her teaching privileges restored. The university maintains that there was no obligation to renew Naragon's contract as it stood, and the university felt that her conduct with a student, lesbian or not, warranted less contact with the students. Naragon defends her conduct by showing that this student was not and never had been a student in her class. Was there an invasion of privacy by the employer? Why or why not? [ Naragon v. Wharton, 572 F. Supp. 1117 (1983).]