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Fired Professor Drops Lawsuit Against Ohio University
By: David Forster
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — An Ohio University professor who recently lost his job over allegations of sexual harassment has dropped a federal lawsuit he filed against the university.
WOUB reached out to the attorney representing former journalism professor Yusuf Kalyango but did not receive a response before this story was published.
The lawsuit was dismissed April 29 through a joint agreement between Kalyango and the university. This was three weeks after the university’s board of trustees decided Kalyango should be fired after investigations concluded he sexually harassed two former students.
Kalyango sued the university in September, arguing that the investigations were illegally tainted by discrimination because he is Black and male. He also argued the university violated its own policies on multiple occasions during its investigations.
Similar concerns about the investigations were raised by a special committee of the university’s Faculty Senate. The investigations were conducted by an attorney with the university office that handles sexual harassment claims.
The investigations led to recommendations by two academic committees and the university president that Kalyango lose his job. The Faculty Senate special committee disagreed and recommended to the board of trustees that Kalyango keep his job.
The trustees rejected that recommendation on multiple grounds, including that the special committee applied the wrong standard of evidence in its review. The trustees asked the committee to reconsider.
The committee came back with the same recommendation, applying the same standard of evidence. The trustees then voted unanimously to again reject the committee’s recommendation and direct that Kalyango be fired.