ST CHARLES, Missouri — Months before an award-winning educator was criminally charged with tampering with computer data, she and several of her female colleagues raised concerns about racial discrimination, sexual harassment and other forms of mistreatment from administrators at St. Charles Community College, court documents show.
Dr. Nicole Nunn-Faron, who recently left her post as the education department chairperson at the college to take a job as the dean of the College of Education at Harris-Stowe State University, was among six women who worked at the college to file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Another current employee who still works there joined with those six to file a lawsuit alleging that President Barbara Kavalier's administration systematically retaliated against women who raised concerns about harassment, discrimination or accreditation.
Some of the women were demoted, saw their pay reduced or left after voicing concerns about how some Black students or faculty were treated.
"This criminal case was retaliation for filing that lawsuit. It's clear as day," said Nunn-Faron's defense attorney Justin Gelfand.
Gelfand said his client, now on leave from her new post at Harris-Stowe State University, was targeted by her former employer.
"This is a woman, Dr Nunn-Faron, who had the courage, with a number of other women, to file a whistleblower complaint against St. Charles Community College for gender and race discrimination," he said.
In charging documents, campus police acknowledge an IT staff member helped Nunn-Faron move files to an external hard drive while she continued teaching over the summer, and that she voluntarily handed those files back to the college before charges were filed.
According to documents reviewed by 5 On Your Side, several faculty members had communicated with the IT administrator that their shared drive was full and that they needed assistance clearing space on their devices.
Nunn-Faron's lawyer said she experienced a similar obstacle and reached out for help, and the IT administrator was the only person to remove files from the computer.
Gelfand said the timing and the fact pattern shows there was no motive or criminal intent.
The data transfer incident with the IT department occurred in April. Nunn-Faron's lawyer said she was entitled to take her work computer home as she continued to teach during the summer.
In July, she began her new role at Harris-Stowe State University.
Later that month, Nunn-Faron returned the hard drive to St. Charles Community College.
The campus police didn't apply for criminal charges until August 6.
"I was a federal prosecutor for four-and-a-half years," Gelfand said. "I have never heard of a computer criminal case where the allegation is that somebody called IT first. It doesn't make any sense. She had no reason to take these files. She had nothing to gain from having these files."
He said Nunn-Faron gave them back voluntarily, and made no digital copies of them.
"She was retaliated against by the university that she stood up against," Gelfand said. "She did not commit a crime. She will be cleared of this crime. I am 100% confident of that."
In a prepared statement, St. Charles Community College said its "primary concern is the well-being of ... students and the college community as a whole."
St. Charles Community College is disappointed certain individuals have shared untrue information publicly, especially in light of their attorney’s statement on (Aug. 13) regarding not trying this matter in the press. Unfortunately, these individuals are apparently intent on damaging the College’s excellent reputation for their own self-interest.
"We are confident that the facts presented in court will tell a far different story than what is currently being represented."
At least two of the underlying claims involve charges of racial discrimination: one in the form of an investigation into the only Black dean on campus and the other in the form of a Black student whose Title IX complaints went ignored.
Nunn-Faron's lawyer said she attempted to advocate on behalf of the student to help him file a Title IX complaint. That advocacy, they suspect, drew the ire of her bosses.
“I’ve known Dr. Nunn-Faron for three years, and I have never known her to be anything but kind and helpful," the student said in a statement. "When I first met her and she didn’t even know me, she helped me through family issues I was having and even helped me get funds through the school to help me move.
"Throughout the next two years, Dr. Nunn-Faron was constantly going out of her way to help me in every situation. She always made it a point to get to know me personally, she was always kind, professional, respectful and uplifting. Through my practicum hours, she tried her best to make us students thrive to be the best we could be.
"She always had a demeanor of confidence and compassion," the student said. "(In spring 2024), I had to file a complaint of racial discrimination (against a St. Charles Community College instructor). Dr. Nunn-Faron pointed me in the right direction to get the help I needed to fix the situation. (S)he told me where to go and how to go about filing complaints. Without her, I wouldn’t have had anyone to stand up for me.”
5 On Your Side is not naming the student to protect his identity.
Sherrie Hall, an attorney with the Workers Rights Law Firm, said dozens of other women saw similar troubling patterns.
"There's a lot of witnesses to it all," Hall said. "We believe that there are at least 34 women that have been directly affected by this."
Some of them have already resolved their cases with the community college; others have dropped them or saw their complaints expire beyond the statute of limitations.
One woman still employed by the district who asked not to be named described an "unprecedented trend" happening on campus.
"After reporting concerns, women — especially older women — are demoted, moved to smaller offices and oftentimes pushed out of the college," she said.
"After spending approximately two decades at the institution and serving under three presidents, I began to notice more lopsided turnover and reorganization than ever before in the history of the college," she said. "Eventually, I personally experienced the broad pattern I had noticed."
She pointed to several media reports that showed similar patterns or complaints were leveled at Kavalier, the college president, in her previous places of employment.
"They were people in power who had a following, and there seems to be this desire to squash them," Hall said.