HARRISBURG – A Shippensburg University director of testing has sued the institution for damages after claiming a female colleague made numerous unwanted sexual advances towards her – and that the school not only initially failed to listen to her story, but refused to reinstate her employment.
Jane Doe filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 11 versus Shippensburg University. Both parties are based in Shippensburg.
“Plaintiff is an adult female and was accepted as a student in defendant’s Clinical Mental Health Master’s Program and she commenced her studies in the fall semester of 2018,” the suit states.
“As part of her admission package with defendant, plaintiff was offered a position as a graduate assistant to commence in August 2018, and plaintiff would receive compensation from defendant including an hourly wage and tuition reimbursement to be used towards credits for completion of her Master’s Degree with defendant.”
Doe was later promoted to the role of Director of Testing, where her direct supervisor was Dr. Jane Roe (a pseudonym), who was an Assistant Dean of Defendant’s Office of Professional, Continuing, and Distance Education (OPCDE).
“In about January 2019, Dr. Roe started to make overt sexual advances towards plaintiff in that Dr. Roe propositioned plaintiff to participate in a ménage à trois with her and a man. Plaintiff rejected this sexual advance. Shortly after the January 2019 proposition, plaintiff approached the Dean of OPCDE to complain of Dr. Roe’s sexual advance, but before she could cite any details, the Dean told plaintiff that she did not want to hear about it,” the suit says.
“Thereafter, between January 2019 and the end of the school year in April 2019, Dr. Roe made advances towards plaintiff between 2-4 times weekly, including repeating her proposition to engage in a ménage à trois, showing plaintiff photographs and text messages of a sexual nature and flaunting details about her sex-life.”
During this time period, the suit says Roe continued to make inappropriate comments of a sexual nature at the workplace knowing that her comments would be heard by plaintiff, sent inappropriate text messages to the plaintiff and disregarded the fact that the plaintiff rejected each and every one of these advances.
“In March/April 2019, plaintiff accompanied Dr. Roe on a business trip to Philadelphia. During the Philadelphia trip, Dr. Roe asked plaintiff to look at photographs on Dr. Roe’s phone which showed Dr. Roe nude and engaging in activities as a dominatrix with various men,” the suit states.
“Plaintiff told Dr. Roe that she ‘did not need to see these photos’, at which point Dr. Roe responded with extreme disappointment to plaintiff’s rejection of the photographs.”
After plaintiff and Dr. Roe returned from the Philadelphia trip, Dr. Roe “threatened Plaintiff’s job, and warned her that she could suffer the same fate as the previous Director of Testing (who was terminated by Dr. Roe) if she did not respect and obey Dr. Roe because she was her boss.”
The plaintiff says she understood this threat to mean that Dr. Roe was trying to intimidate her to not reject her sexual advances. The plaintiff again approached the Dean to complain of the incidents of sexual harassment during and after the Philadelphia trip, but the Dean again told plaintiff “she did not want to hear it because Dr. Roe was her friend.”
“In early to mid-August 2019, plaintiff accompanied Dr. Roe to a work-related conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Dr. Roe asked for room key to plaintiff’s room ‘in case I want to visit in the middle of the night.’ Plaintiff refused Dr. Roe’s request,” the suit says.
“About two days later and during the New Orleans trip, Dr. Roe told plaintiff that she was going to go on a dating website to find a date and that she wanted plaintiff to come on the date with her. Plaintiff refused this sexual advance and firmly advised Dr. Roe that she had a boyfriend and did not do that kind of thing. Dr. Roe was noticeably upset at plaintiff’s rejection of this proposition.”
The following day, Dr. Roe allegedly confronted plaintiff in front of other attendees of the New Orleans conference, by yelling and cursing to plaintiff that she would not have a job when she returned to Shippensburg. Dr. Roe then feigned illness and left the plaintiff in New Orleans.
When the plaintiff returned to Shippensburg, she says she attempted to talk to the Dean about what happened in New Orleans – but not only did the Dean allegedly refuse for a third time to hear her story, she learned Dr. Roe had told the entire department that the plaintiff was no longer employed by the university.
“On Aug. 20, 2019, plaintiff was called into a meeting with the defendant’s Vice President of Human Resources and the Dean to discuss accusations that she had engaged in ‘unprofessional behavior’ during the New Orleans trip. Plaintiff immediately explained that it was Dr. Roe who was unprofessional, that Dr. Roe was lying to protect herself and plaintiff gave some of the details of the sexual harassment to which she was subjected by Dr. Roe,” the suit says.
“The VPHR asked why she did not complain about Dr. Roe’s behavior in the past, and plaintiff looked at the Dean and said that she had tried. The Dean did not deny that plaintiff’s had approached her to try to complain about Dr. Roe. Plaintiff was told by the VPHR that the defendant was going to end her employment. Plaintiff never returned to the workplace and she received her last paycheck from defendant on or about Oct. 18, 2019, and her tuition benefits were discontinued at the end of December 2019.”
At the time of the Aug. 20, 2019 meeting, the VPHR also directed plaintiff to put in a formal complaint of sexual harassment with the defendant’s Title IX Coordinator. The plaintiff did so two days later, sending in proof of harassment by attaching text messages sent to her by Dr. Roe, and describing some of the harassment to which she was subjected.
“Dr. Roe was placed on leave by the defendant and resigned her position in lieu of termination, within several weeks after plaintiff presented her evidence to the Title IX Coordinator. In November/December 2019, the VPHR, after learning of the evidence supporting plaintiff’s claims, said that he would reconsider reinstating plaintiff’s employment with defendant in some capacity and that he would contact her to make arrangements to do so, but he never did so to date,” the suit says.
For counts of violating Title IX through quid pro quo sexual harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress the plaintiff is seeking:
• The defendant to be prohibited from continuing to maintain its illegal policy, practice, or custom of harassing, discriminating, and retaliating against employees and students;
• The defendant to compensate plaintiff, reimburse plaintiff, and make plaintiff whole for any and all pay and benefits plaintiff would have received had it not been for defendant’s illegal actions;
• Punitive damages, as permitted by applicable law, to punish defendant for its willful, deliberate, malicious and outrageous conduct and to deter defendant or other educational institutions/employers from engaging in such misconduct in the future;
• Damages for emotional distress and/or pain and suffering and any and all other equitable and legal relief as the Court deems just, proper, and appropriate;
• Costs and expenses of this action and reasonable legal fees as provided by applicable law and a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by Samuel Dion of Dion & Goldberger, in Philadelphia.
The defendant has not yet secured legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 1:20-cv-01416
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com