A Title IX lawsuit filed in October against the University of Connecticut alleges that faculty members were dismissed because they called on the administration to speak out about violence on campus. But a professor at the school said that's not the case.
In October, four women filed a lawsuit against UConn, alleging the university failed to adequately respond to allegations of sexual assault and harassment on campus.
The suit also suggested that three faculty members in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department were dismissed because they’d spoken out on behalf of one of the plaintiffs. The professor who leads the department called that allegation “absolutely untrue.”
In a statement to WNPR, Professor Nancy Naples said the teachers left the school because they had other opportunities and considerations. One took a position closer to his partner. The second took a tenure track position elsewhere. The third remains on the faculty.
Naples said, “I can confidently assert that no one in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies has been wrongly terminated due to signing a petition or for any other political activities.”
Lawmakers on the state’s Higher Education and Public Safety committees will hold a hearing Wednesday into the sexual assault reporting, and investigative policies and procedures on Connecticut’s college campuses.