The former president of Seton Hall University in New Jersey sued the school on Monday, accusing its former chairman of trying to intimidate him and sexually harassing his wife.
In the lawsuit, the former president, Joseph R. Nyre, accused the former chairman of the university’s Board of Regents, Kevin H. Marino, of a campaign of harassment. The lawsuit said the university board responded to his complaints with “gaslighting” and retaliation that eventually brought his employment “to a grinding halt.”
As a result, Mr. Nyre said, he resigned last summer after four years in the job.
He was joined in the lawsuit by his wife, Kelli L. Nyre, who accused Mr. Marino of forcible kissing and touching, and who said the university failed to act on their complaints about the harassment.
The lawsuit said that Seton Hall determined Mr. Nyre to be “a dissident employee whose employment needed to be terminated.”
Laurie A. Pine, a spokeswoman for Seton Hall, denied the Nyres’ allegations on Wednesday.
“The claims in this filing are completely without merit, and we intend to vigorously contest them,” she said in a statement.
A lawyer for Mr. Marino, Christopher Porrino, said in a statement that his client “categorically denies the false and defamatory allegations against him,” adding that “he will seek full legal redress against the Nyres in the appropriate forum after their frivolous and disgraceful lawsuit has been dismissed.”
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