A professor at The New School in New York City is accused of sexually harassing and having orgies with multiple students, and administrators reportedly let him resign quietly, the alleged victim claimed in a lawsuit.
A 23-year-old student, identified as “Jane Doe,” accused Emanuele Castano, 43, of sexually abusing her while she was recovering from lymphoma, the New York Post reported.
Doe is suing The New School, claiming she cannot focus on her studies because of the trauma, even though she got a 3.7 GPA for her undergraduate degree at Greenwich Village University.
Doe claimed the 43-year-old divorced father drugged her with pot and got her drunk after inviting her to dine with him and his son on March 3, 2017.
After his son went to bed, the alleged victim said, “[The professor] advanced himself on me, but didn’t stop to ask me whether I was OK with this.”
The Italian native received a National Education Association grant in 2016 when he began “grooming [Doe] for a sexual relationship,” the suit states.
Doe said she continued to sleep with Castano but felt the professor was exploiting her during her recovery from lymphoma.
The two broke up after Castano began a sexual relationship with a post-doctoral student.
The suit claims that Castano tried to bribe the woman with a research position in Italy after Doe allegedly became pregnant with his child.
Doe also accused The New School of taking too long to investigate her case, despite other allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to 2012—including one instance where Castano allegedly had an orgy with his lab students.
In a statement, Castano denied the allegations against him and claimed that he was unaware of the lawsuit:
I am not aware of any previous complaint brought against me. On the contrary, female students who have worked with me for years have issued the following statement: “…Several of us were adrift in other labs and sub-disciplines before taking a class with Dr. Castano. His obvious concern for the academic development of all students created an atmosphere in which we felt inspired. His generous and welcoming spirit created a sense of community in which we felt comfortable and supported. For many of us Dr. Castano’s tutelage is a primary factor in our success at The New School.”
The New School allowed Castano to resign last fall before he moved to a position at Stanford University. Stanford later fired him after the student newspaper wrote about the misconduct claims.