University of Illinois sued over sexual misconduct
Two former University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students are suing the University of Illinois for failing to protect them from a professor they say was violent and exploitative. The lawsuit, filed last month in the Illinois Court of Claims, alleges the university focused on generating income from Chinese students at the cost of protecting students.
The lawsuit outlines claims that are part of another lawsuit the former students filed in September 2019 against former UIUC professor Gary Gang Xu. Both lawsuits allege that he raped and assaulted a former undergraduate student and forced another former student to do work for his commercial projects, for which she was uncredited and unpaid. The 2019 lawsuit, which is pending in federal court in Urbana, also claimed that the university had a financial incentive to keep what it knew about allegations against Xu quiet. The women now seek about $11.7 million from the U of I board of trustees for pain and suffering, unpaid wages and attorney fees.
Robin Kaler, a spokesperson for UIUC, said the university was aware of the most recent lawsuit but could not comment on its contents. "The university investigates and takes appropriate action whenever conduct is reported that may jeopardize or impact the safety or security of our students or others," Kaler said in an emailed statement. A lawyer representing Xu did not return repeated requests for comment by deadline. Xu denied sexual assault allegations reported by The Daily Illini student newspaper in 2018.
The 2021 lawsuit claims the university failed to investigate claims of sexual harassment and assault in a timely and adequate manner. Xingjian Sun, the plaintiff who detailed an abusive relationship with the professor, reported Xu's behavior to UIUC on multiple occasions. But she rescinded the claims shortly after "as is typical of a victim of domestic violence ... to protect her safety after Xu beat her and threatened to hurt her and her family if she did not," the lawsuit reads.
Read more: https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/u-of-i-sued-over-sexual-misconduct/Content?oid=13235591
= new reply since forum marked as read
