Ducks’ ‘Bowl of Dicks List’ Challenged

EUGENE, Ore. (CN) - A security officer sued the University of Oregon, claiming it fired him for complaining about his bosses' "Bowl of Dicks List," which included Hillary Clinton, Jesse Jackson and the ACLU.

James M. Cleavenger sued the University of Oregon in Wednesday in Lane County Circuit Court, seeking damages for whistleblower discrimination, blacklisting, retaliation and wrongful firing.

Cleavenger went to work for the university as a public safety officer in March 2010. He claims he had stellar reviews until he started working the graveyard shift under Lt. Brandon Lebrecht, who is not a defendant in the lawsuit. The only defendant is the university.

Lebrecht made time during his preshift meetings to discuss his department's "Bowl of Dicks List" - local and national figures who Lebrecht and other officers "disliked and thought should 'eat a bowl of dicks,'" Cleavenger says in the complaint.

He claims that officer Eric LeRoy kept the updated "Bowl of Dicks List" on his cell phone.

"The 'Bowl of Dicks List' contained dozens of entries such as: the American Civil Liberties Union, U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken, Oprah Winfrey, O.J. Simpson, civil rights activist Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Civil Liberties Defense Center lawyer Lauren Regan, Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, Democratic party politicians including Al Gore and Hilary Clinton, 2010/2011 ASUO Student President Amelie Rousseau, university housing staff and resident assistants deemed unfriendly to UOPD, defense lawyers, 'dirty hippies,' etc.," the complaint states.

After the meetings, LeRoy and Lebrecht often spent most of their 8-hour shifts talking in Lebrecht's office, Cleavenger claims. He says this is verifiable through computer-aided dispatch records and the audio recordings.

Cleavenger says he reported the daily discussion of the "Bowl of Dicks List" to his supervisors and to Brian Smith, the university's vice president of administration, but his complaints were ignored.

He claims Lebrecht and Cleavenger's direct supervisor, Sgt. Scott Cameron, launched a campaign of harassment and intimidation against him until they managed to demote and fire him.

Cleavenger is represented by Mark McDougal in Portland, who declined to comment.

The university's lawyer, Andrea Coit with Harrang Long in Eugene, questioned the timing of the lawsuit.

"We are surprised by the timing of this filing in state court, considering this matter will go to trial in federal court next week," Coit told Courthouse News. "In fact, the act itself appears more calculated toward garnering media attention for Mr. Cleavenger's federal case than it does toward submitting a good-faith filing of actionable claims in the Lane County Circuit Court.

"The allegations being made here and in the federal case are false and the university will demonstrate that fact wherever necessary," Coit said.

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