Lawsuit: U of I Retaliated Over Sex Harassment Claims
A marker at the entrance to the University of Illinois Urbana campus at Wright Street and University Avenue in Urbana, Illinois. (Wikimedia Commons)
A former University of Illinois graduate student is suing the school's board of trustees and others, claiming administrators retaliated against her after she accused a visiting researcher of sexual harassment.
In the lawsuit filed in June by Hye-Young Park demands $6 million.
She accuses the researcher, Charles Secolosky, of repeatedly pursuing and harassing her in 2014 and trying to force her to watch a sexually explicit video. He also is named in the lawsuit.
Park claims that when she complained to the university, administrators denied responsibility since he was not an employee. She says a professor who had agreed to supervise her then quickly rescinded the offer.
A university spokesperson did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Secolsky told the Chicago Tribune that Park pursued him. He denied wrongdoing.