LEWISTON, Maine — A former Bates College football coach filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, charging the college with discrimination, defamation, negligence, and retaliation under the Maine Whistleblowers' Act.
Malik Hall, head football coach at Bates from 2018 to 2021, his wife, Ayesha Hall, and their minor children said they were subjected to "severe racial discrimination" by the college.
Malik Hall of Auburn played Division I football and graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst before working as a coach in the NFL and NCAA.
He was hired in 2018 by Bates College "in an apparent attempt to address its tortured and well-documented record of institutional racism," the suit alleged.
"Almost immediately after he accepted the position, however, the college abandoned any pretense that it intended to treat Coach Hall fairly and respectfully and instead subjected him to repeated and severe discrimination," the suit continued.
Among the allegations, Hall accused the college of "playing on racist stereotypes by manufacturing stories that he and his Black offensive coordinator had committed sexual assault" and "fabricating claims that he and the same coordinator had arranged for students to have sex with football recruits."
The suit alleged the college invented reports it had videos of Hall using anti-gay slurs while speaking to the team, prohibiting him from leading the team in optional prayer but allowing the college's white chaplain to do so, and telling him that as Bates' first Black head football coach, his contract situation was "different" and needed to be reviewed by attorneys before beginning negotiations to renew it.
The suit claimed the family was required to live in a house "that it knew was infested with black mold" and that his three children continue to experience health impacts of the mold.
In May 2021, the college allegedly told Hall his contract would not be renegotiated or renewed.
Hall filed discrimination complaints with the Maine Human Rights Commission and U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission in June 2021.
The MHRC issued a notice of right to sue on Jan. 7, 2022. The EEOC issued a dismissal notice Thursday, the day the suit was filed.
The suit seeks, among other relief, that Bates return Hall to the position of head football coach. It asked the court to award him back pay, benefits, and compensatory, punitive and civil damages.
The suit also asked the court to enjoin the college from any racial discrimination, post a notice of the verdict, and notify all college employees of the verdict.
The college's student newspaper, the Bates Student, reported on the lawsuit Friday.
"The college has not seen the lawsuit filed by Malik Hall," college spokeswoman Mary Pols said in an email to NEWS CENTER Maine Friday evening. "I can tell you the college strongly disagrees with the account of events as described in the Bates Student newspaper."
