[1.] Some excerpts from Judge Steven McAuliffe (D.N.H.) Monday in the longish Fosu v. Univ. of R.I. Bd. of Trustees (D.R.I.); there's a lot more in the whole opinion. First, the backstory about the plaintiff:
In 2018, URI recruited and hired Dr. Gifty Ako-Adounvo, as Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and Senior International Officer. Dr. Ako-Adounvo asked for URI's help to locate employment for Fosu, her domestic partner, and when no outside employment options were found, URI appointed him as a visiting professor for the 2019 spring semester. URI appointed Fosu to a faculty of practice to teach in the Political Science Department for the 2019-2020 academic year. A faculty of practice is a one-year appointment and a non-tenure position.
Fosu did not have the academic qualifications to teach core curriculum classes in the Political Science Department. The Chair of the Political Science Department, Professor Marc Hutchison, decided that Fosu could teach elective courses as a faculty of practice. Fosu was to teach a course on the Supreme Court and constitutional law, and he also proposed a course on advocacy, which was approved. During the 2019-2020 academic year, Fosu taught elective undergraduate courses on constitutional law and advocacy and a graduate course….
[2.] The court discussed various bases for Fosu's appointment not being renewed; here's an excerpt of that, though there were other things happening as well. Note that, "[b]ecause Fosu has not responded to defendants' motion [for summary judgment]," the court "accept[ed] as uncontested defendants' recitation of the material facts":
