Members of the six-person search committee that hired Linda Bonnin, new University vice president of strategic communications, said her involvement in a discrimination lawsuit against the University of Memphis was never discussed in interviews.
The committee, chaired by Manship School of Mass Communication Dean Jerry Ceppos, started searching for a candidate in 2013 but did not succeed. The process began again this year and gained traction over the summer.
Bonnin’s hiring was approved at the Sept. 12 Board of Supervisors meeting, according to University Media Relations spokesman Ernie Ballard.
Bonnin was one of three finalists for the position, said Student Government President and committee member Clay Tufts.
“Based on the information that we gained from various sources, including many interviews directly with her, there was no reason to feel that she was not a strong candidate,” said Yvette Marsh, director of talent management for the LSU Foundation.
Tufts, Marsh and Kurt Keppler, vice chancellor for student life and enrollment, were unaware of Bonnin’s lawsuit in their interviews and said a background check was conducted by LSU Human Resource Management. The three committee members said they did not receive a copy of the background check’s results.
“Then and now, I feel like she was adequately — maybe more than adequately — vetted for the process,” Marsh said.
The lawsuit, filed in Shelby County, Tennessee, District Court in April, alleges Bonnin, 55, terminated then-64-year-old Charles “Curt” Guenther and was “motivated by his age and/or his gender and not his abilities and work performance.”
“I have just fired Curt Guenther as Director of Communications Services, and I want to replace him with somebody younger and female,” the suit alleges Bonnin said.
According to the suit, Guenther’s work was then reassigned to Gabrielle Maxey, Memphis’ communications coordinator, a female who is 10 years younger  than Guenther.