Discrimination based on race

DECISION T-691-12 DISCRIMINATION BASED ON RACE

The plaintiff considers that the Francisco José de Caldas University did not adequately protect him when he received a discriminatory treatment by one of the professors of this university, who in a class, where he was the only black student, used a series of racist stereotypes as a method for explaining an issue technical in nature, in which it was not necessary to refer to social and historical questions. In the decision the following issues were analysed: 1º. The constitutional right of every person not to subjected to discrimination, and the relevant constitutional rules and case law that apply to the present case are specified. 2º. The Constitutional right to academic freedom, its importance in democracy and its complexity, because of its interrelationship, interdependency and indivisibility with other fundamental rights that the exercise of this freedom could entail. 3º. The special relationship existing between the right to education, academic freedom and the guarantee of non-discrimination, namely, on grounds of race