A former law student has filed a lawsuit against the university saying she was discriminated against because she is white.

The suit, filed earlier this month, claims first-year student Lisa Rittenhouse was not readmitted to the law school for a second year in part because of “reverse discrimination.” The lawsuit also says Rittenhouse’s mental and physical impairments, including dyslexia and bipolar disorder, led to her being treated unfairly.

Rittenhouse has asked for at least $1.5 million and readmission into the law school, according to the suit. The SIU Board of Trustees, the SIU School of Law and the school’s dean Peter Alexander are listed as defendants in the case.

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According to the suit, Rittenhouse believes the school readmitted five other students this year who had lower grade point averages than Rittenhouse, four of which were racial minorities. Rittenhouse also claims the grades of two of the minority students were changed to bring their GPAs up to a level acceptable for readmission.

Associate General Counsel Deborah Nelson said she did not know how Rittenhouse would have obtained the information about the other students.

“At this point we’re gathering information and we do intend to vigorously defend this case,” Nelson said.

Darrell Dunham, a Carbondale-based attorney representing Rittenhouse, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Rittenhouse was dismissed from the law school at the end of the spring semester after failing to earn a grade point average of 2.0 or higher, according to a letter included as evidence in the suit. Her GPA was 1.948 at the end of her first year at the school.

The letter, sent to Rittenhouse from the school’s Academic Standards Committee, said Rittenhouse petitioned to be readmitted in June. She cited a difficult breakup with her boyfriend, failure to seek help for her disabilities and a lack of experience with heavily weighted final exams as reasons for her poor performance the previous year.

The committee, however, said it was not convinced Rittenhouse was capable of bringing her GPA to an acceptable level.

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“The committee is concerned that the problems which have plagued Ms. Rittenhouse throughout her life have not been resolved and are likely to recur,” the letter reads.

Rittenhouse then appealed the decision to Alexander, who agreed with the committee that Rittenhouse had not shown she was capable of bringing up her GPA.

Joe Crawford can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 254 or [email protected].