by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Kevin Rogers, the chief engineer of KUNM Radio, filed a civil rights suit claiming the station's management retaliated against him because he is a right-wing conservative and a Christian.
Rogers filed the suit against the UNM Board of Regents and KUNM (89.9 FM), as well as Rogers' supervisor and general manager of the station, Richard Towne. The suit claims religious discrimination and violation of First Amendment right to free speech.
Neither Towne nor Roberts returned phone calls.
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Donald Gilpin, Rogers' attorney, said KUNM's management and staff created a hostile work environment for Rogers.
"It's not about them just expressing their views," he said. "It's about them trying to force their views on him and ridiculing him for his opinions, and I think that's where it crossed the line."
According to the lawsuit, staff members of the radio station posted anti-Republican posters around the station after Sept. 11, 2001.
The staff also verbally mocked Rogers' beliefs, according to the lawsuit.
"KUNM staff and management made derogatory comments on a daily basis about President George Bush and the current White House administration," according to the complaint. "KUNM staff also made derogatory comments about conservative Christians in America."
Richard Holder, deputy provost of the University, disputed the claims.
"I think the general comment I would make is that the University does not agree to these allegations, and we will fight them vigorously in court," he said.
In 2002, Rogers told Towne and other staff members that the posters and comments offended him, and were inappropriate in the office, according to the lawsuit.
Rogers' complaints did not solve the problem, according to the lawsuit.
"In fact, the comments increased and were made regularly at staff meetings," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the station's management removed all American flags from the station and made derogatory comments about the flag and the Pledge of Allegiance.
KUNM employees are regularly given time on the radio station as DJs or as hosts of radio shows, according to the lawsuit.
After Rogers complained about the anti-conservative environment at the radio station, and said he was retaliated against by limiting his access to air-time on the radio, which was "in some instances denied completely," according to the lawsuit.
While some of the occurrences named in the lawsuit might have happened, they were not for illegal reasons, Holder said.
"They may or may not have taken place - that's a factual matter that will come to light in a trial setting," he said. "But we dispute that the cause for them was religious or political discrimination. These things could have happened for perfectly good reasons."
Some of Rogers' job duties were given to another, less qualified staff member, Production Director Tristan Clum, according to the lawsuit.
Clum is also named as a defendant.
Gilpin said Rogers would not have minded the break-room criticism of the Bush administration.
"Hostile work environments are a cumulative effect," he said. "If you take one incident it might seem trivial, but when it all comes together it can be a problem."
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages for Rogers' "mental anguish and humiliation," as well as punitive damages for KUNM's "willful, wanton and malicious actions against him."
