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A former Marietta College president alleges a campaign of harassment in a lawsuit against the school and a former dean
By: David Forster
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — A former Marietta College president alleges in a lawsuit that a campaign of harassment by a college dean cost him a job at another school.
The lawsuit faults the college for allegedly taking allegations made by the dean at face value without investigation and for failing to take any action to stop the alleged harassment.
The lawsuit was filed a little over two weeks ago in federal court by William Ruud. The college and Alexandra Perry are named as defendants.
Perry is the former dean of the college’s McDonough Center for Leadership and Business. She also taught classes on leadership and ethics.
She was arrested last August on charges that, according to the lawsuit, were related to her efforts to damage Ruud’s reputation. She pleaded guilty in December to two of the charges: tampering with evidence and falsification.
Perry is no longer employed by the college, according to a spokesperson.
Ruud alleges this was a direct consequence of actions by Perry and Marietta College.
According to the lawsuit, the problems between Ruud and Perry began in November 2021 with a proposed merger of the McDonough Center with the Department of Business and Economics.
Perry, who was not yet dean of the McDonough Center, opposed the merger.
The following timeline of events is alleged in the lawsuit:
In March 2022, Perry and other faculty signed a resolution on a vote of no confidence against Ruud. It was put to a vote the following month and failed.
Perry became interim dean of the McDonough Center in July 2022 and then “escalated her campaign of accusing Ruud of various faults and wrongdoing, including alleged discrimination,” the lawsuit alleges.
In November 2022, Perry participated in a complaint against Ruud alleging discrimination against women. She also began making statements to other faculty that she was afraid to work late because she feared Ruud might come into her office.
The college hired an independent agency to investigate Perry’s complaint against Ruud, which resulted in no findings of discrimination or misconduct, according to the lawsuit.
Ruud filed a gender discrimination complaint against Perry in December 2022, alleging she was trying to interfere with his employment.
Two months later, he resigned. In June 2023, he and his family moved to Eagle, Idaho, where he started looking for work.
“In leaving Marietta College, Ruud assumed he would never hear from Perry again,” according to the lawsuit.
Marietta College issues no contact order
A year and a half later, in December 2024, Ruud received a letter informing him that Marietta College had issued an order that he was to have no contact with Perry and would face criminal charges if he did.
Ruud had had no contact with Perry since leaving Marietta, according to the lawsuit. The no contact order arrived about two months after it was publicly announced he was seeking a new college presidency position.
Perry filed a report with Marietta College police in late February 2025 making several allegations against Ruud, including sexual-related offenses. She alleged there had been several interactions between her and Ruud since he left Marietta.
This was false, and Perry included no proof of any such interactions, according to the lawsuit.
The report was closed by the police “without any further action known to Ruud,” according to the lawsuit.
Ruud was hired by Carroll College in April 2025 and was scheduled to take over as president in July under a three-year contract.
This was announced in a May 1 news release posted online. The next day, Marietta College issued a no trespass order against Ruud at Perry’s request. Ruud had not set foot on the campus since he left, according to the lawsuit.
Then, someone began making a series of anonymous posts on Carroll College’s online reporting form. One said he was “a con man and an abuser.” Another said he was stalking a Marietta College person through phone calls and online posts, violating an order that he have no contact with this person.
Ruud reached out to Marietta College officials several times, alleging that Perry was using the no contact and no trespass orders, along with the anonymous posts, to damage his reputation and derail his job offer, according to the lawsuit.
He was told there was nothing the college could or would do, according to the lawsuit.
Ruud filed a report with the FBI and Marietta College police. He took steps to file for a civil protection order against Perry.
Meanwhile, the anonymous posts to Carroll College continued. Then, on June 25 last year, the college announced Ruud would not be taking over as president.
Search warrant leads to arrest
Several weeks later, OhioHealth issued a “criminal trespass warning and cease and desist” letter to Ruud, according to the lawsuit. The reason, he was told, is because he had violated the no contact order with Perry, who worked as a clinical ethicist at OhioHealth.
OhioHealth rescinded the letter a few weeks later following Perry’s arrest.
Detectives served a search warrant at her Marietta home on Aug. 13 as part of an investigation into allegations she made that someone had placed an Apple Air Tag on her car and was using it to track and follow her.
Perry also had provided photographs to law enforcement of a license plate she said was from a car parked outside her home. She said the car belonged to the person who was tracking her.
Detectives determined that the Air Tag belonged to Perry and was registered under her phone number. They also found that the license plate in the photo shared the same numbers but otherwise did not match the actual license plate on the vehicle belonging to the person she said was following her.
According to the lawsuit, Perry had doctored the photo to make it appear the car belonged to Ruud.
Perry was indicted on two felony charges of tampering with evidence and two misdemeanor charges of falsification. She pleaded guilty to one charge of each in December and was sentenced to two years of probation.
In his lawsuit against Marietta College and Perry, Ruud is seeking compensation for loss of employment, loss of income and benefits, emotional distress and damage to his reputation. He is also seeking punitive damages.
A spokesperson said Marietta College “is not at liberty to comment about ongoing litigation.” WOUB was unable to reach Perry.