From the trial court decision in the case, Davis v. Brown (decided Jan. 6, 2022):
Plaintiff is the former Dean of defendant Fashion Institute of Technology's ("FIT") School of Graduate Studies. Plaintiff is suing FIT and its president, defendant Joyce Brown, for defamation. The defamation is allegedly contained in a February 21, 2020 Letter to the Community (the "letter") posted by Brown on FIT's website. The letter was issued in response to criticism of the Graduate School's February 7, 2020 Fashion Show specifically with respect to the racial insensitivity of accessories used by one of the designers. Eight days after the show, the New York Post reported that a Black model refused to wear certain accessories she believed to be racist. According to plaintiff, "[t]his cricitism amplified the long simmering complaints of systemic racism at FIT under Dr. Brown's leadership". She claims that the letter was Brown's attempt to defect [deflect? -EV] criticism of her own leadership failures at FIT. Ultimately, on November 10, 2020, FIT fired plaintiff….
The underlying controversy was described in the New York Times (Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura) thus:
