Professor sues Lane Community College, charges lack of protection from stalker

A Lane Community College professor filed a lawsuit Thursday, alleging that the Eugene school has failed to protect her from a student who stalked and threatened her for more than a year, and that the administration refused to take concrete actions to end the sexual harassment despite repeated requests for intervention.

Nadia Raza, 37, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Eugene, alleging her employer did not follow federal Title IX laws that prohibit sexual harassment and discrimination in any federally-funded education program or workplace. Raza has taught at the college since 2005, and is a tenured faculty member who teaches in the Sociology department.

As a result of the school's inaction in the face of harassment, intimidation and repeated stalking by the unnamed student, Raza said, she now only teaches online courses. "LCC has failed and refused to take reasonable steps to make Nadia Raza's work environment secure and free from the threat of continued sexual harassment or violence," the complaint reads.

Raza is Pakistani-American and a Muslim, and she told school officials the student may have harassed her because of her ethnicity and religion.

College officials declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, the student's harassment began in January 2014. The student soon made overtures to meet Raza off campus.

She rebuffed those advances, but according to the lawsuit, the student "persisted nevertheless, sending increasingly aggressive personal emails."

The following month, Raza reported the harassment to her department chair, who purportedly forwarded the concern up the school's administrative ladder. The student was subsequently cited for harassment, but Raza said school officials refused to allow her to participate in a conduct hearing or tell her when the hearing would occur. Raza wasn't interviewed as part of the investigation, according to the lawsuit.

In March, Raza said she felt "shut out of the process," and wasn't told the outcome of the student's disciplinary hearing.

According to the lawsuit, the student then made strange comments to other professors about "a large corporation" that was supposedly conducting surveillance on him. Professor Caroline Lundquist also asked for school intervention, according to the lawsuit.

In April 2014, when Raza applied for a stalking protection order, campus officials would not provide the student's address so he could be served. By the end of that month, five female teachers had reported receiving disturbing and delusional emails from the student, the lawsuit said.

The next month, the student was arrested at a Eugene apartment when he was reportedly looking for Raza.

More than a year after the initial complaint, Raza sat down with the administration to discuss returning to the classroom.

But according to the lawsuit, the school wouldn't provide regular escorts or safety officers, nor post a picture of the stalker on campus.

"One of their suggestions," the lawsuit said, "was to download a safety-related app recommended by Dr. Phil for her phone."

Raza has moved as a result of the situation. "Her entire way of life has been disrupted by the constant sense of danger," the lawsuit said.

She is asking for damages, including emotional distress, attorney's fees and moving costs.

Raza also asked the school to institute a "comprehensive sexual harassment policy" to prevent future incidents, and student conduct procedures to clearly outline communication and enforcement of sexual harassment policies.


-- Andrew Theen
atheen@oregonian.com
503-294-4026
@andrewtheen

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