The Canadian-Indian dean of the University of California, Berkeley's law school has been sued by his executive assistant for sexually harassing her from September 2014 to March 2015. During an investigation Sujit Choudhry admitted to "hugging, kissing, messaging (sic) and/or caressing” her several times a week, and "hugging and kissing other female employees”. The Washington Post reported that he has been sent on an “indefinite leave of absence” from his position.
In her law suit filed on Tuesday, 41-year-old Tyann Sorrell described how Choudhry sexually harassed her. She has also sued the University of California Board of Regents as she claimed that when she told her supervisors about the incidents, they first failed to stop it and then tried to retaliate.
In March 2015, Sorrell had written an email to Choudhry telling him she felt “violated and humiliated” and forwarded the email to human resources. Sorell decided to file a formal complaint after a university official said that he had decided not to take formal action because it would ruin the dean’s career.
In a statement on Wednesday, University Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Claude Steele said Choudhry will “step down to his faculty position and salary...A thorough investigation of this case found that Dean Choudhry’s behaviour in this situation violated policy.”
According to his biography on the university website, Choudhry is “an internationally recognized authority on comparative constitutional law and comparative constitutional development”. He has worked with the World Bank and the United Nations, and taught at the NYU School of Law and University of Toronto.
AP reported that the dean's office will release a statement soon.
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