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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Ex-employee sues for discrimination

Former head athletic trainer Jacquelyn Jenkins is suing GW for sexual discrimination, claiming Athletic Director Jack Kvancz told her in 1999 she could not work with the men’s basketball team, according to court documents.

A D.C. Superior Court judge will decide to hear the case or issue a summary judgment that GW applied for in January, her lawyer Michael Kane said.

Jenkins, who worked as assistant athletic trainer at GW since 1993, filed suit last May after she resigned from her position April 25.

Jenkins became head athletic trainer when Beverly Westerman left the position in 1999, citing “conflicts with the new basketball coach, Tom Penders,” according to court documents. Westerman had worked with the men’s basketball team for 10 years.

When Jenkins interviewed for the job, Kvancz told her she could not assign herself as the men’s basketball trainer because men feel more comfortable talking to men about injuries, Kane said.

Current head athletic trainer Chris Hennelly was an assistant trainer at the time, and Kvancz appointed him to work with the men’s basketball team, Kane said.

“Every day I reported to work knowing that I could not have the best position available because I am a woman,” Jenkins said in her deposition.

Kane said GW’s decision hurt Jenkins’s career because it kept her from serving as trainer for GW’s “premier sport,” resulting in loss of income and other economic benefits and a prestigious professional reputation.

Kane said Kvancz’s actions violate the D.C. Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in educational institutions, housing and public service.

Kane works for law firm Cashdan, Golden and Kane and is also settling a suit with GW for 13 former Mount Vernon College professors.

According to charges filed by Jenkins, the court should hear the case because Kvancz’s statements to Jenkins serve as direct evidence that GW refused to let Jenkins work with the men’s team because of her gender.

Kvancz and Hennelly declined to comment on the case. Sarah Mulkern, an attorney from University General Counsel who heads GW’s defense, could not be reached for comment.

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