Georgia Southern Pays Fired Wellness Director $250K Over Chest Binder Dispute

Georgia taxpayers are footing a $250,000 bill to settle a lawsuit from a former Georgia Southern University administrator who says she was fired for standing up for transgender students. Dr. Gemma Skuraton, who led the university's Office of Student Wellness and Health Promotion, claimed she was pushed out in July 2025 after clashing with campus leadership over a rejected plan to give trans students free chest binders.

Skuraton sued the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and Vice President for Student Affairs Shay Little, alleging the defendants violated her First Amendment and Title IX rights and retaliated against her, according to CBS News. Per court records reviewed by PacerMonitor, she formally filed the federal civil rights case on April 22, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia under case number 1:26-cv-02215. The lawsuit followed her termination roughly nine months earlier.

According to the lawsuit, Skuraton had objected to Georgia Southern's rejection of a proposal to provide free chest binders to students. Chest binders are compression undergarments worn primarily by transgender men and nonbinary individuals to flatten chest tissue, and public health and medical professionals recognize them as key wellness tools to alleviate gender dysphoria. The lawsuit also alleges Little accused Skuraton of encouraging student protests and media attention over the issue.

A Mediation Deal That Rewrote Her Departure

The case appeared headed for a lengthy discovery process, originally scheduled through late September 2026, before U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross granted a joint motion on July 8, 2026, staying discovery to allow for court-ordered mediation. That mediation directly produced the settlement now being finalized. The Board of Regents and Little denied wrongdoing throughout, the station's report notes, even as they agreed to the financial and administrative terms.

Under the deal, the Georgia Department of Administrative Services will pay Skuraton $144,365.36 in personal damages and $105,634.36 to her attorneys for legal fees and expenses, totaling the $250,000 settlement. Beyond the money, the Board of Regents agreed to reclassify Skuraton's termination as a voluntary resignation, remove the firing letter from her personnel file where legally permitted, and issue her a neutral reference letter. In exchange, Skuraton is required to permanently dismiss the lawsuit within five days of receiving payment.

An Award-Winning Career Before The Firing

Skuraton had directed the wellness office since its consolidation in January 2020, a role in which she previously received the Kathryn Grube Unsung Hero Award and the Randolph S. Gunter Distinguished Staff Award, according to Georgia Southern Commons. Just a month before her firing, her office had partnered with a local nonprofit to launch free campus-wide naloxone distribution to prevent opioid overdoses, per ExpertFile. Little, meanwhile, had served as Vice President for Student Affairs since May 2020, overseeing student conduct, health services, counseling, and wellness initiatives at the university, according to Georgia Southern University.

Attorney Artur Davis, who represented Skuraton, said she “lost a job, but she kept her moral compass.” This is not the first time Davis has taken on the Board of Regents in federal court. In March, Hoodline reported on a cancer patient's firing suit Davis filed on behalf of a former Georgia State employee who alleged she was fired during cancer treatment.

A Statewide Policy Backdrop

The dispute unfolded against a broader policy shift across Georgia's public university system. Between November 2024 and January 2025, the Board of Regents enacted strict policies prohibiting mandatory diversity statements and requiring institutional neutrality on social and political issues across all 26 public colleges in the state, according to the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. That regulatory environment forms the backdrop against which Skuraton's advocacy for LGBTQ-specific health resources was rejected.

Georgia has agreed to pay the $250,000 to resolve the case, closing out a legal fight that began with a rejected health proposal and ended with a state-funded payout and a cleaned-up personnel file. The settlement resolves the litigation without a court ruling on the underlying constitutional and Title IX claims Skuraton raised.