Bailey was denied a promotion to a professor’s position after she notified the university, beginning in 2016, that she could be tapped to serve in the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Trump appointed her to a deputy administrator position in 2017. A registered Republican, according to court documents filed November 18, Bailey claimed her level of work supported the promotion but she was refused it because of her peers’ feelings about Trump.

Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) department head Sissy Osteen, Dean of the College of Human Sciences Stephan Wilson and Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Gary Sandefur were publicly critical of the president and those who supported him, Bailey alleged. Her suit also asserts that Wilson publicly shared his “disdain” for the HHS’ leadership.

Assistant Department Head of HDFS Jarrod Noftsger, who reports to Osteen, is alleged to have said that conservative principles are “why we can’t have nice things” and compared an unnamed member of the Trump administration to a “fictional movie villain,” the lawsuit says. All four officials are named as defendants in the suit, which claims they are all registered Democrats.

Bailey’s promotion request was denied months before she joined Trump’s administration in 2017. But she claims in her lawsuit that university officials were aware of her intentions to take a leave of absence to work for Trump if she was tapped when they decided not to promote her.

She first notified university officials that she could be asked to work for Trump’s administration in December 2016 when she met with Sandefur’s executive assistant. Bailey claimed she also discussed the matter with Osteen during the spring semester of 2017 after she appealed her decision to deny her the promotion.

Osteen, Wilson and Sandefur denied her promotion request in three separate letters issued in February, March and June of 2017. The denials were issued despite “excellent reviews” and Osteen’s written appraisal that said she was “making progress toward promotion,” according to the court filing.

Newsweek reached out to Oklahoma State University but did not receive a response in time for publication.

An administrative review found that the officials who evaluated her Reappointment Promotion and Tenure request “distressed, confused and humiliated” Bailey and showed a “systemic failure to follow university policy,” the suit says.

Bailey returned to the university in January 2019 after she left the Trump administration. Besides not being a professor, she was denied summer teaching assignments for the first time since 2010, according to the suit. She also alleged she was forced to take on two courses she hadn’t taught in years past and was not permitted to teach a course she created.

“Other similarly-situated OSU faculty members…have taken various types of leave and have returned…without the issues that Plaintiff has faced,” the lawsuit says. “None of these other similarly-situated faculty members were appointed to the Trump administration, however.”

The defendants’ actions, Bailey claimed, caused her economic loss. She is asking for a jury award of more than $75,000 in damages.