UNC wants Mary Willingham lawsuit dismissed
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has filed a motion to dismiss a civil lawsuit brought by former academic advisor and reading specialist Mary Willingham.
Willingham is the whistleblower who claimed some student athletes were functionally illiterate.
In the lawsuit, Willingham claimed she was discriminated and retaliated against for being a whistleblower, and is seeking damages of $10,000 and her job back.
Willingham claimed UNC failed to address her concerns, and she was demoted and reassigned, according to the lawsuit.
Willingham's attorney has said she's endured a lot -- all because she tried to speak out and stand up for what she felt was right.
In court documents filed Wednesday, the University of North Carolina claimed there was insufficient evidence to support Willingham's claims of First Amendment retaliation and whistleblower retaliation.
"The allegations in plaintiff's complaint go far beyond these two claims," the documents state. "Indeed, more than a quarter of plaintiff's 102-paragraph complaint consists of a stand-alone section devoted to allegations of what Plaintiff refers to as the 'national scandal' surrounding the University's treatment of athletes - allegations that are wholly unrelated to Plaintiff's causes of action."
The motion seeks to strike 24 different paragraphs from the complaint related to athletics and academic matters that UNC claims are Willingham's own interpretations and have no connection to her.
"She merely states that they were reported and she fails to connect them in any way to her asserted causes of action," the documents read.
UNC is also seeking to have the case transferred from Wake County to Orange County.
