Shutterstock
Shalom Ifeanyi is taking legal action against the University of Cincinnati and is suing them after she was cut from the school’s volleyball team by the coach over allegedly posting pictures on her Instagram that were deemed as “too sexy” and provocative.
According to The Daily Mail, Ifeanyi, a 19-year-old student of the school, is suing her former coach Molly Alvey and the executive senior associate athletic director Maggie McKinley for race and sexual discrimination.
Ifeanyi alleges that her coach, Alvey, began harassing and body-shaming her after she joined the team in January 2017. Ifeanyi was recruited by Alvey from Oregon State University and was enlisted to play at the University of Cincinnati as a student-athlete.
We are very excited to add freshman outside hitter Shalom Ifeanyi to the team! pic.twitter.com/xkRMHglFPP
— Cincinnati VBall (@GoBearcatsVB) January 20, 2017
According to Ifeanyi, her coach began taking an issue with the teen’s Instagram pictures calling them “too sexy.”
Ifeanyi says that the pictures her coach didn’t approve of were ones where she was fully clothed. According to documents, it states that Alvey didn’t make any similar comments to other teammates about their Instagram pictures despite their accounts having photos of them pictured in two-piece bathing suits.
Last June, Ifeanyi met with her coach to discuss rehab from a knee injury and her prospects for the upcoming season when she was confronted by her coach over the pictures.
During the meeting, Ifeanyi claims that Alvey asked her to open her Instagram profile and that Alvey requested that Ifeanyi remove a specific photo, saying, “When the football players see this, what do you think they see? They see your breasts. It’s seductive.”
Ifeanyi did as she was told but told her coach the issue she had with her over having to do this. In a text exchange, Ifeanyi told her coach she felt as if she was being targeted for her body and for various other reasons.
Texts from Cincinnati coach telling Shalom Ifeanyi to pull 'racy' photos. https://t.co/t0MqCdzrF6 pic.twitter.com/XirHrTwM23
— C-Lane (@c_lane) March 26, 2018
In a tweet showing screenshots of Ifeanyi’s text, the teen told the coach:
Ok Coach. However, I feel like I’m body-shamed because I’m not flat-chested. I’m not trying to show my boobs Coach, I can’t make them go away. In these pictures I just got my hair done and really liked my makeup and thought the pictures were pretty. My teammates have swimsuit photos that are more revealing than me in a tank top. I will delete them if you really want me to but I feel like because people say I’m pretty I’m being sexualized. There’s a history of black women because of their bodies being sexualized, and that’s what appears to be happening to me. I can’t help the way I’m built. I am not trying to argue, I just feel like I have to be flat-chested or real skinny to post.
Coach Alvey never responded to text despite acknowledging that she received it. Shortly after, Alvey called Ifeanyi into her office and told her that she was being dismissed from the team, due the their “differing philosophies.”
McKinley, the athletic director, was present for the meeting and agreed with Alvey’s decision to dismiss Ifeanyi.
After being dismissed from the team, Ifeanyi filed a Title IX complaint, but the University of Cincinnati failed to complete the investigation within a nine-month time frame. The lawsuit claims that Ifeanyi has also experienced “pain and suffering” based on Alvey’s decision. She claims she suffered from humiliation, frustration, aggravation, anger and depression. She is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and reasonable attorney fees, costs and all other relief to which she may be entitled.
A spokesperson for The University of Cincinnati’s athletic department told the press that they were “unable to comment on the allegations.”
Because Ifeanyi was on scholarship to play volleyball for the school, she was told her funding would not be renewed next year due to her dismissal. NCAA rules also state that she will not be able to play volleyball competitively for the 2018-2019 season at any school. The lawsuit states the rule “effectively [ends] any potential ability for [Ifeanyi] to rely on an athletic scholarship for payment of tuition and related costs.”
As of recently, Bailey Davis, a three year New Orleans Saints cheerleader was said to be fired for the same exact thing. Bailey, like Ifeanyi, isn’t taking the firing laying down and is pursuing legal action against the Saints.
