PROFESSOR ASKS DISMISSAL OF SUIT AGAINST SEMO REGENTS

Southeast Missouri State University English associate professor Dean Monahan wants a federal judge to dismiss his lawsuit against the school's Board of Regents.

But Monahan says he hasn't given up the fight and may file a new lawsuit against his employer if the school doesn't address his concerns.

A new suit, he said, would allow him to "more precisely target" the legal issues. "I am not going to give up and drop this thing."

He has charged that the university refused to promote him and denied him merit pay because of his opposition to curriculum changes. The school has denied the allegations.

Monahan wants Judge Thomas C. Mummert III to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice, a legal move that would allow the professor to raise the same issues in a new suit.

Monahan's lawyer, Eric Sowers of St. Louis, filed the motion in federal court in Cape Girardeau on Monday.

The university on Wednesday filed its response, arguing that the case should be dismissed with prejudice or any voluntary dismissal should be contingent upon Monahan paying the university $17,104 if he pursues further legal action based upon the current claims.

Southeast's lawyer, Diane Howard of Cape Girardeau, said federal civil procedures allow the judge to order such a payment.

The amount represents $16,116 in attorney fees, $760 mediation costs and $228 in deposition costs.

The parties in the case met with a mediator in October, but the two sides didn't reach agreement.

If the case is dismissed with prejudice, Monahan couldn't file a new lawsuit against the university on the same issues, she said.

Howard earlier had filed a motion seeking a summary judgment in favor of the school.

The university has argued that Monahan's curriculum views have had no bearing on his employment situation.

In the lawsuit, Monahan said the university around 1990 adopted an academic philosophy of multiculturalism. Monahan charged that multiculturalism emphasizes foreign ethnic and racial cultures while eliminating or putting less emphasis on studies that "might cause American students to be proud of their own country or adopt a point of view that might be characterized as conservative."

Monahan said he repeatedly has argued for the teaching of traditional American literature, including what the lawsuit calls "the traditional interpretations of American historical events."

Monahan said in his lawsuit that the university refused to promote him to full professor and grant him merit pay increases in an effort to "stifle his political speech and actions."

He contends in the suit that his reputation has been damaged and that he has suffered "emotional distress, embarrassment and humiliation." According to the suit, his lost income and emotional distress totals more than $25,000.

Monahan initially filed suit on April 23, 1998, in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court. The university succeeded in getting the case moved to federal court in Cape Girardeau in October 1998.

The school, he said, offered him a financial settlement last week on the condition that he resign. Monahan said he rejected the offer.

"I don't want to just take the money and walk away,' he said. "That doesn't solve the problems."

Monahan continues to be concerned about the curriculum. "Our students have to take classes they don't need. Sometimes the classes have little academic value."

Monahan, who has taught at the university for 34 years, said he still hopes he and the university can resolve the issues.