A Japanese academic who tried to sue a British university for racism has had her case thrown out by a tribunal judge.
Professor Nana Sato-Rossberg accused Provost Claire Ozanne of being prejudiced, after she had told her she liked sushi.
Ozanne was accused of being prejudiced, with Sato-Rossberg saying she would not have said to a German "I like sausage."
However, a tribunal judge has found that Sato-Rossberg had been "predisposed" to finding fault with Ozanne, who she had previously accused of being "unconsciously biased" against her during her employment at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.
Professor Nana Sato-Rossberg's case has been thrown out
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The hearing heard how, on September 13, 2021, Sato-Rossberg was waiting near Ozanne’s office for a meeting. Ozanne noticed the Sato-Rossberg and invited her to wait in her office, rather than the communal area.
Ozanne was not using her office at the time, but did come in, once or twice, between her other meetings. She engaged Sato-Rossberg in conversation, telling her about Japanese sushi restaurant near her home which her family enjoyed.
Sato-Rossberg told the Tribunal: "She would not have said to a German person 'I like sausage.' I have never tried to initiate a conversation. She anticipated that I like to talk about Japan. That is biased in the first place."
In her witness statement she said: "If Prof Claire Ozanne wished to make conversation, we had many commonalities through our work and professional academic endeavour, but Prof Claire Ozanne chose to speak only about topics directly relevant to my race: the liking of Japanese food and that her family like it and eat sushi."
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Ozanne made the comment about sushi (file pic)
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The tribunal found that Ozanne spoke warmly about her local Japanese restaurant and her family’s love of sushi. She did so, knowing that Sato-Rossberg was Japanese and believing that she would receive this positively.
It was also found that Ozanne was making small talk and trying to establish a point of shared interest and said nothing detrimental about Japan.
Asking for her to be replaced as her manager, the tribunal heard she said: "[She] tries to suppress my voice, the voice of a woman of colour" before later claiming she had exhibited "racist microaggression" towards her.
The hearing was told that later that year the university launched an investigation into her claims, during which time Sato-Rossberg was promoted to Professor in Translation Studies.
Rejecting her case, Employment Judge Jillian Brown said Sato-Rossberg had decided Prof Ozanne was prejudiced against her, without evidence, from the start.
The Tribunal concluded that Sato-Rossberg "had decided, from the outset, that [Prof] Ozanne would be biased because [she] was not British and was a woman and BAME.
"The Tribunal decided that Ozanne mentioning a sushi restaurant and her family's love of sushi was not a detriment because a reasonable person would not consider themselves at a disadvantage when a manager, trying to be friendly and find common ground, was enthusiastic about food from the person's country of origin.
"A reasonable person would not take offence at such complimentary and friendly words. In this case, Ozanne's words were not even 'unfortunate'. They were not reasonably seen as hurtful or misjudged. On the contrary, Sato-Rossberg's objection reflected [her] own hypersensitivity and predisposition to find fault with Ozanne."