Ex-Employee Sues Blue State University For Allegedly Firing Her After She Converted To Christianity

A former City University of New York (CUNY) staff member is suing the university for wrongfully terminating her employment after she converted to Christianity, according to a religious discrimination lawsuit filed last week.

Teona Pagan, who worked at CUNY’s Research Foundation as the Fellowships and Public Service Program Coordinator, alleges she was denied a religious accommodation for an aspect of her job that required her to recruit students for a fellowship focused on the promotion of LGBT “rights and causes,” according to the complaint filed Aug. 28. When Pagan converted to Christianity in April 2022 — months after beginning her job in November 2021 — she suddenly found her duties related to the fellowship in conflict with her sincerely held religious beliefs.

“After my hire, I was told that the committee was particularly drawn to me because of my youthful maturity and willingness to stand boldly for issues plaguing our generation,” Pagan told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation. “Ironically, when I decided to finally stand for the Truth, who is Jesus Christ, they chose to terminate my employment.”

Pagan was hired for the position right after graduating from the Honors Program at CUNY’s Baruch College, according to the lawsuit.

Pagan oversaw nine other fellowship programs, and less than 10% of her job was devoted to the LGBT-centered program, known as the Mixner Fellowship, she told the DCNF. She thought the religious accommodation would be an “easy fix and compromise,” especially since she had collaborated with her supervisor on other projects “where roles shifted smoothly.”