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Professor emeritus files suit against SIUC

By Scott Fitzgerald, The Southern

Thursday, August 7, 2008 9:36 AM CDT

A retired Southern Illinois University Carbondale chemistry professor who made a $2.5 million research donation to his school is suing after getting kicked off campus after allegations of sexual harassment.

Cal Y. Meyers is asking for a judgment from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois that he be allowed to set foot on campus again and resume his duties as director of the Meyers Institute in Interdisciplinary Research in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry.

The professor, who, according to the lawsuit, retired from SIUC with the title of distinguished professor emeritus, made his financial donation to SIUC in February 2000 to establish the institute.

The federal suit was filed Tuesday at the federal court in East St. Louis. SIUC and vice chancellor of research John Koropchak were named as defendants. Attorney Rebecca Whittington of Carbondale is representing Meyers.

Read the court documents here

Koropchak did not return a telephone call Wednesday.

SIU's general counsel Jerry Blakemore said he had not been served with the federal papers Wednesday and declined comment.

Meyers was named the institute's initial director until his retirement or death, according to a memorandum of agreement from the Southern Illinois University Foundation included in the court filings.

Meyers was ordered to cease contact with student workers in the chemistry department and complete a sexual harassment training course, according to papers filed with his lawsuit.

In a Jan. 31 memo, former chancellor Fernando Treviño ordered Meyers to leave campus and not return until authorized.

Meyers contends in his petition that he was denied due process of law and that his civil rights were interfered with when he was denied access to his role as institute director. He says he was not provided a chance to be heard prior to being banned from campus.

"He (Meyers) was not given specific examples of why he was kicked off campus," Whittington said.

In a letter dated April 28, Blakemore lists eight specific examples of alleged inappropriate racial comments and violations related to harassment, inappropriate physical contact and smoking within buildings.

The information was gathered in an investigation into allegations, Blakemore wrote.

Whittington on Wednesday said some of the specific examples were misconstrued, misinterpreted or not true.

Other counts of Meyers' lawsuit contend Koropchak defamed Meyers when Koropchak said Meyers violated SIUC's harassment policy and inflicted emotional distress on the plaintiff when Koropchak "openly disagreed with plaintiff's stance as a conscientious objector."

scott.fitzgerald@thesouthern.com

351-5076

Similar situations?

The federal complaint filed against Southern Illinois University Carbondale by Cal Y. Meyers seems to hit chords similar to that of a dispute between the school and John Y. Simon, a noted scholar on Ulysses S. Grant.

Shortly after his death in July, The New York Times reported Simon had disputed accusations that he had verbally harassed three young women employed by the Ulysses S. Association and the university's library, where the association is housed. Simon was the association's executive director.

The Times reported the association was preparing to sever its ties with SIU and seek a new partner, but a reconciliation was being negotiated, according to the association's president, Chief Justice Frank J. Williams of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.