The New School improperly handled accusations of sexual misconduct by former NSSR psychology department co-chair Emanuele Castano, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month. Castano made sexual advances and participated in group sex with students who were in his lab, documents filed in New York State Supreme Court allege.
The plaintiff, a 23-year-old New School student who is referred to in the suit as “Jane Doe,” has accused The New School of discriminating against her by failing to protect her from Castano’s advances and of negligence in its handling of her complaint.
Castano was “notorious” for his history of inappropriate sexual conduct with students prior to the complaint, court documents argue. The university received a complaint about Castano’s sexual relationship with a different student around 2012, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleges that in a separate incident, Castano had group sex with students in his lab. Afterwards, a student allegedly asked to be transferred out of the class due to discomfort with Castano’s behavior. The suit alleges that The New School received this information in a September 2017 letter from another student, following receipt of the plaintiff’s complaint.
The plaintiff allegedly contacted Jennifer Francone, the New School’s Title IX coordinator, about Castano in June 2017. The student claimed Castano hired her as a babysitter for his son and then offered her alcohol and marijuana before beginning a sexual relationship with her while she was enrolled in his courses.
The student, who was undergoing treatment for cancer at the time of her relationship with Castano, was emotionally distraught by the relationship and eventually received a diagnosis of PTSD and depression, according to court papers. She also underwent an abortion during the period of her relationship with Castano, according to court papers.
In an email over the summer of 2017, Francone allegedly told the plaintiff that an individual from human resources and Castano would be notified as part of the investigation. According to the suit, the plaintiff wanted her complaint to remain confidential but felt misled by Francone, who spoke to faculty and students after promising her privacy.
On at least two occasions, Francone told the plaintiff that the university intended to conclude the investigation prior to the beginning of the fall 2017 semester, according to the lawsuit.
The investigation was not closed until Oct. 17, when Francone notified the student via email that Castano was resigning and the university therefore “consider[ed] this matter closed.”
“Francone never explained to her the result of the investigation, never told her about the evidence collected, never told her what The New School had concluded about Castano’s veracity or conduct or how many faculty members were interviewed or told about her complaint,” the suit claims.
The plaintiff’s lawyers, Adam S. Miller and Nicholas S. Joseph of Kauff Laton Miller LLP, declined to comment on the proceedings.
Castano was co-chair of the psychology department at NSSR before resigning. Castano, who holds a Ph.D. in social psychology, first became an assistant professor of psychology at NSSR and faculty member at Lang College in the 2002-2003 academic year.
Castano ultimately resigned from his post in October 2017 and took an unpaid position at Stanford University, according to the Stanford Daily. Stanford suspended Castano after the Stanford Daily reported on the allegations against him.
Castano denied the allegations. In a statement to the Free Press, he said, “While I cannot respond in detail on issues that are matters of other current litigation involving Jane Doe, I can state that I am unaware of any previous complaint brought against me. I can also state that the representations of my leave from The New School are not accurate.”
According to the lawsuit, the New School said that the university’s practice was to notify faculty of findings against them and allow them to resign.
Amy Malsin, a spokesperson for the university, did not respond when asked for comment on the university’s practice regarding communicating the outcome of investigations.
The New School declined to comment on the pending litigation in an email to the Free Press. “While we are not able to comment on pending litigation, we want to be clear that sexual harassment and misconduct have no place at The New School. We’ve just completed a comprehensive review to make our policies and practices even stronger and are in the midst of listening sessions with the university community to solicit feedback on the policy revisions. We take our responsibility in these matters very seriously and investigate all complaints,” said Amy Malsin.
The university’s review of sexual misconduct policies was announced in December. New School President David Van Zandt told the Free Press “no single example sparked the policy review.”
The plaintiff is demanding a trial by jury and seeks compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
Image taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2103&v=lGvLcB1ReMc
