Professor sues Point Park over investigations
A longtime Point Park University professor is suing her employer over investigations into her conduct that she says were botched, which damaged her reputation.
Channa Newman, chairwoman of the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, who has taught at Point Park for 55 years, filed an 18count civil lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County against the university. She is claiming that the handling of a student’s complaint against her and two subsequent probes resulted in discrimination, hostile work conditions, shunning by colleagues and reputational harm. She is seeking unspecified back pay, compensation for emotional distress, punitive damages and legal fees.
In a statement, Point Park denied the allegations.
“Point Park embraces and actively pursues a policy of inclusiveness that reflects the diversity of the community it serves,” the university wrote. “The university categorically denies the allegations of wrongdoing contained in the complaint.”
Ms. Newman is represented by lawyer James B. Lieber, principal at the Shadyside firm of Lieber Hammer Huber & Paul, P.C.
Ms. Newman, a Holocaust survivor who began teaching at Point Park in 1964, was the subject of a student complaint in 2018 that included the student’s admission in class that she’d been raped, according to the lawsuit.
She began crying before leaving the class and Ms. Newman denied allegations that she attacked, belittled or ridiculed the student over her disclosure.
The student responded by filing a complaint against Ms. Newman that cited the university’s prohibition against sexual discrimination — called a Title IX complaint after the 1972 federal law that guarantees students equal opportunity for education, free of sexual discrimination and harassment. Ms. Newman was immediately suspended by the university and her courses were canceled.
Details of the complaint were vague, according to the lawsuit, but contained the allegation that Ms. Newman had somehow belittled the student after she “identified herself as a rape victim,” which Ms. Newman denied.
“(Ms.) Newman categorically denied the accusations that she responded to the student by belittling her, that she ever made any inappropriate comments to the student regarding any matter or that she engaged with her in an inappropriate manner,” according to the lawsuit.
In November 2019, Ms. Newman was given a redacted investigative report, which revealed that the student had consulted with two of Ms. Newman’s rivals at Point Park before filing the complaint in an attempt to discredit her and remove her from the university.
The lawsuit accuses her rivals of creating a hostile work environment and discrimination based on religion and national origin.
The student’s complaint was dismissed, which the student appealed in January 2019.
A month later Ms. Newman was notified that a new Title IX complaint had been filed against her, but Ms. Newman said no students had complained to her, according to the lawsuit.
“The repeated false allegations together with the other mistreatment Ms. Newman has endured have created a hostile work environment, including excessive scrutiny, apparently designed to make her leave her job.”
Mediation during the spring and summer of 2019 between Point Park and Ms. Newman attempted to resolve their differences, but the meetings ended in September when she learned she was under a third investigation. Ms. Newman didn’t know the specifics of the latest complaint, according to the lawsuit.
“(Ms.) Newman remains prey to unsubstantiated charges, endless investigations, career damage, degradation of her faculty and chair roles, excessive scrutiny, and attacks on her academic freedom,” the lawsuit concluded.