Ex-MSU dean sues interim president, officials, for alleged plot to remove him as rival

Former Michigan State University Business School Dean Sanjay Gupta filed a lawsuit Friday against Interim President Teresa Woodruff alleging she defamed him and used her power to demote him so that he would not be a rival to serve as the university's next president.

"Defendant Teresa Woodruff, then-Provost and now Interim President, orchestrated multiple violations of Gupta’s due process rights, ... interfered with his contract and business relationship with MSU, and defamed him in a power scheme to ensure that Gupta would not be named successor to outgoing former President Samuel Stanley, Jr., and to enhance Woodruff’s personal ambition to become President," said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Gupta left his post as dean in August after acknowledging that he failed to report a business school leader who allegedly got intoxicated and acted inappropriately at an end-of-the-year gala in April. Gupta learned of the alleged incident from two fellow deans who indicated that they had planned to report the incident to the university’s Office of Institutional Equity for investigation. Gupta didn't report the incident and lost the post he held for seven years for an alleged violation of the university's mandatory reporting policies.

"Gupta had no duty to re-report anything that had already been reported to OIE by his direct reports as a possible RVSM Policy issue under MSU’s clearly established policies," the lawsuit claims.

The university's training of administrators "expressly confirms that administrators who become aware of OIE reports of possible (Relationship Violence & Sexual Misconduct) Policy matters that have been made by those under the administrators’ supervision do not have any duty to 're-report' under the mandatory reporting policy," the filing stated. "No administrator other than Gupta has been removed or disciplined as a result of a failure to 're-report' to OIE."

Besides Woodruff, also named as defendants are former MSU President Samuel Stanley, interim Provost Thomas Jeitschko, Title IX coordinator Nicole Schmidtke, Title IX senior investigator Allison Towe, interim associate Provost Ann Austin and spokeswoman Emily Guerrant who all, "participated in violating Gupta’s rights and defaming him," the suit says.

MSU representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday night on the suit.

Gupta, who remains an accounting professor, is seeking reappointment to his seat and damages as the court finds appropriate.

The lawsuit comes after Woodruff, while she was provost, gave Gupta a positive review on June 16, complimenting him on his successes as dean, including the business school's rankings, research and thedevelopment of the MSU Ethics Institute, according to the suit.

"During that review, Woodruff asked Gupta about his future aspirations, and he told her that if asked, he would be happy to serve upon the conclusion of then-President Stanley’s term," the suit said.

That same day, Schmidtke, the OIE Title IX director, emailed Gupta regarding a professor who was the subject of OIE reports regarding an April 22 end-of-year MBA program event for acting inappropriately following intoxication.

Gupta, who did not attend the event, learned of the incident from two associate deans who had reported the incident to OIE. Speaking with an investigator on June 20, he "voluntarily disclosed to her the limited information known to him, which was 'intoxication' and 'inappropriate' behavior told to him by his administrators and by the professor," the lawsuit said.

Two days later, on June 22, the MSU Board of Trustees advised then-President Stanley they had lost confidence in his administration’s handling of Title IX issues, the suit said. Board members asked Stanley about possible successors and he cited three executive vice presidents who reported directly to him including Woodruff. When Stanley was asked about possible candidates outside his administrations, he said Gupta, the suit said.

Later on June 22, an OIE investigator contacted Gupta for a potential mandatory reporting failure but did not say "he had allegedly had failed to report anything, or that anyone had filed a report with OIE alleging any mandatory reporting violation as to Gupta," the filing read. "Unbeknownst to Gupta, OIE concluded that he had purportedly failed to report 'sexual misconduct.' Gupta, however, never was notified of any 'sexual misconduct.' ... No MSU Title IX reporting policy requires reporting of 'intoxication.'"

OIE also didn't open a formal investigation of the professor until July 28. On Aug. 2, the office sent Gupta an email with a written report dated Aug. 8, "falsely stating he had failed to report 'sexual misconduct' that his two administrators had purportedly told him about in April 2022," the lawsuit said. "(It) recommended that Gupta take a refresher training course on mandatory RVSM reporting training. The August 8, 2022, OIE report did not recommend any other discipline."

Gupta emailed Woodruff to discuss inaccuracies in the report; she scheduled an Aug. 12 meeting during which she told him "he had just 'resigned' as Dean, purportedly because she had concluded he had a failure in leadership for several reasons," the lawsuit said. "...Defendant Woodruff did not provide Gupta any meaningful opportunity to present the facts, which would have refuted her shocking statements. The purported 'resignation' was involuntary."

He was to return to the faculty as a tenured professor. Gupta’s 2015 employment agreement as the business school dean states that he would be appointed as a "John A. Hannah Professor, Broad Professor, or other available endowed professorship in the Broad College, with research support in effect at that time," according to the suit.

But Woodruff would not appoint Gupta with an endowed professorship, with research support, upon his return to the faculty and his annualized salary was being changed to a nine-month, academic salary. That lead to a reduction in his annual salary of about $100,000, the suit said.

"Stanley publicly stated that he approved of, agreed with and endorsed all of Defendant Woodruff’s statements and conduct in terminating Gupta," his legal team wrote. "Unbeknownst to Gupta, Defendants Woodruff, Jeitschko, Austin, and Stanley pre-planned the August 12, 2022, termination, orchestrating the process behind-the-scenes in an effort for Woodruff to smear and stigmatize Gupta’s good name and thereby eliminate her competitor."

The lawsuit claims the defendants then "publicly disseminated defamatory statements, falsely alleging that Gupta had resigned because he had violated the RVSM Policy."

Some trustees had questions about the university's policy, including whether it was required for someone to report an incident that had already been reported. In August they ordered an outside investigation, conducted by the Quinn Emanuel law firm, into the Title IX office and ouster of Gupta. By December, the results were expected only to be delivered verbally after some trustees expressed concerns that a written report could be leaked, obtained by the public through the Freedom of Information Act or increase legal fees. Some university community members said they were concerned the public might never learn the findings.

After mounting pressure from the Broad College of Business faculty, students, alumni and donors, the board approved releasing the report two weeks ago.

The suit also follows the resignation of Stanley, who was asked by the board to leave his contract early in September due to the university's handling of sexual misconduct issues. A month passed, and some MSU communities rallied behind his tenure before Stanley announced he could no longer work for the board.

Gupta's resignation has been contentious because MSU has a history of applying misconduct policies unevenly. Guerrant said previously that mandatory reporting training has been enhanced following a report from federal officials that showed MSU had failures in that area. She could not immediately be reached Friday.