The former president of Seton Hall University in New Jersey sued the school Monday, accusing its former president of trying to intimidate him and sexually harassing his wife.
In the lawsuit, the former president, Joseph R. Nyre, accused the university’s former Board of Regents chairman, Kevin H. Marino, of a campaign of harassment. The lawsuit said the university’s board of trustees responded to his complaints with “gas lighting” and retaliation that ultimately led to his employment being “disgustingly terminated.”
As a result, Mr. Nyre said, he resigned last summer after four years on the job.
He was joined in the lawsuit by his wife, Kelli L. Nyre, who accused Mr. Marino of kissing and touching her, and who said the university failed to respond to their complaints of harassment.
The lawsuit said Seton Hall designated Mr. Nyre as “a dissenting employee whose employment should be terminated.”
Laurie A. Pine, a Seton Hall spokeswoman, denied the Nyres’ allegations Wednesday.
“The claims in this filing are completely without merit and we intend to vigorously dispute them,” she said in a statement.
Mr. Marino’s lawyer, Christopher Porrino, said in a statement that his client “strongly denies the false and defamatory allegations against him,” adding that he “will pursue full legal action against the Nyres in the appropriate forum after the frivolous and disgraceful their lawsuit has been dismissed.”
Mr. Marino is not a named party to the lawsuit. R. Armen McOmber, a lawyer for the Nyres, said they did not sue Mr. Marino because “their issue is with the university and how they acted, not the core of the problem.”
“If the university had acted appropriately, there would not have been a problem,” Mr McOmber said. “The university has a responsibility to protect employees, investigate and remedy violations, and ensure that its policies are followed.”
In the lawsuit, Mr. Nyre said Mr. Marino repeatedly tried to abuse his power as board chairman, in one case by trying to recruit a friend to a senior university position. In another, he pressured the school to admit unqualified students, including a “close personal friend” of a former board member, Robert Brennan, who had resigned after a felony conviction, the suit says.
The lawsuit also said Mr. Marino tried to pressure Mr. Nyre to “surreptitiously” return a plaque honoring Mr. Brennan to the side of the school’s recreation center. The board had removed it from the building after Mr Brennan’s conviction.
The suit alleges that when Mr. Nyre rejected Mr. Marino’s requests and reported them to university officials, Mr. Marino flew into a months-long rage. Mr Nyre said Mr Marino filed retaliation claims against him, berated him publicly and called him “at all hours of the day” to “ominously threaten” him.
Ultimately, the suit alleges that the university “failed to uphold its obligation to engage in a timely and effective investigation” of the allegations, saying it allowed Mr. Marino’s campaign of retaliation to continue. The result of those retaliations was Mr. Nyre’s “constructive discharge,” the suit said.
“At its core this is about a very principled man and woman who really tried to do their best to stand up to a university and a system,” Mr McOmber said. “My client will do whatever it takes to restore what, prior to his involvement with this university, was an excellent reputation.”
There was no public sign of dissent last summer when Mr. Nyre resigned from Seton Hall, a Catholic university in South Orange, N.J., with more than 10,000 students.
At the time, he said he decided to move on at the end of a university strategic planning initiative, which he called “the right time for new leadership to help write the next chapter in Seton Hall’s remarkable history.”
But his resignation came after a difficult year for Seton Hall, which has been rocked by an investigation into financial wrongdoing at its Newark law school. That investigation found that a group of longtime employees had embezzled more than $975,000 and led to the resignation of the law school’s dean, Kathleen Boozang, in November 2022.
