AUSTIN – A race and gender discrimination lawsuit filed against the University of Texas by former women’s track coach Bev Kearney can proceed, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Kearney resigned under pressure of being fired in January 2013 after school officials confronted her about a relationship with one of her athletes a decade earlier.
Kearney sued, arguing that as a black woman she was held to a tougher standard than a white male coach. Shortly after Kearney resigned, Texas revealed that former assistant football coach Major Applewhite was reprimanded, but not fired, for a relationship with a female student trainer on a 2009 bowl trip.