As a former Palatine High School teacher continues her defamation lawsuit against a Black Lives Matter protest organizer and new Palatine school board member she said smeared her reputation and got her fired, GoFundMe has now also killed off an attempt by friends of the former teacher to raise funds to help her in her court fight.
Earlier this spring, Jeanne Hedgepeth filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against defendant Tim McGowan, saying he wrongly accused her of racism.
McGowan, a Black Lives Matter activist who organized anti-racism protests in the northwest suburb of Chicago last summer, was elected last fall to serve on the Palatine High School District 211 Board of Education.
Tim McGowan
| Facebook
In her lawsuit, Hedgepeth accused McGowan of organizing a campaign to get her fired from the teaching job she had held at Palatine High School for more than 20 years.
The dispute centers on a video McGowan posted to Facebook in June 2020.
The video allegedly followed a Facebook post by Hedgepeth, in which she responded to Black Lives Matter protests in her community by saying, in part: “I find the term ‘white privilege’ as racist as the ‘N’ word. You have not walked in my shoes either so do not make assumptions about me and my so called privilege. You think America is racist? Then you have been hoodwinked by the white liberal establishment and race baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.”
In her complaint, Hedgepeth said McGowan allegedly accused the teacher of encouraging disrespect from white students toward Black students and other non-white students;
Of allowing “a white student to get up and say, ‘I’m glad Donald Trump was elected so he could figure out a way to get rid of these ragheads;’”
Of “destroying lives and validating ignorant little white boys and discouraging a brown lady;” and,
Of “dramatically (disturbing) students at Palatine High School.”
Hedgepeth was ultimately fired in July. School officials allegedly cited her Facebook post as justification for her termination, according to published reports.
In her complaint, Hedgepeth attributed her termination to “McGowan’s false and defamatory statements” which caused her to experience “humiliation and damage to her reputation.”
McGowan has moved to dismiss the complaint, according a Cook County court docket.
Attorneys for both parties did not reply to emailed requests for comment submitted by the Cook County Record.
McGowan is represented by attorneys with the firm of McKenna Storer, of Chicago.
Hedgepeth is represented by attorney Joel F. Handler, of Chicago.
Last fall, with strong financial support from the union that represents Palatine High School’s teachers, McGowan won an easy victory in his race for Palatine High School District school board. According to campaign finance records, McGowan’s campaign organization had nearly $6,000 on hand in early April, nearly entirely as result of donations from the Northwest Suburban Teachers Union LU 1211. There have been no further reports filed since.
As the case continues, friends of Hedgepeth sought to organize a fundraiser on her behalf, through the online fundraising platform GoFundMe.
The page, which was live for about five weeks, asked people to help Hedgepeth meet her living expenses, as her income suffered significantly following her termination.
According to organizer David Prichard, who identified himself as a friend of Hedgepeth’s, Hedgepeth is a single mother and has been forced to work four jobs in the months since her termination to support her household, while continuing with her lawsuit.
In an interview with the Cook County Record, Prichard said the GoFundMe campaign was launched to help “Jeanne continue to stand up for what is fair and just, and stand up for her character, which we believe has been viciously maligned.”
The GoFundMe campaign received 24 donations while the page was live.
However, on May 25, GoFundMe abruptly shut down the fundraising page for Hedgepeth. Prichard said the shutdown came without warning.
In an emailed response to questions from the Cook County Record, a spokesperson for GoFundMe confirmed the shutdown of the campaign. GoFundMe said the fundraising campaign was “removed from the platform because it violated GoFundMe Terms of Service.”
GoFundMe said all 24 donors received full refunds.
The spokesperson did not respond to further requests from The Cook County Record for clarification on which terms of service the fundraising campaign allegedly violated, nor why the fundraiser for Hedgepeth was selected for review at this time, five weeks after it first went live.
The terms of service include provisions forbidding fundraisers that GoFundMe deems, “in our sole discretion, to be an abuse of power or in support of hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, terrorism, or intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, serious disabilities or diseases;” or
“for the legal defense of alleged crimes associated with hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, terrorism, or intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, serious disabilities or diseases, financial crimes or crimes of deception.”
For his part, Prichard said he wasn’t interested in continuing to fight GoFundMe’s “censorship” any further, and was “moving on.”