Lawsuit: University of St. Thomas retaliated against woman who reported sexual misconduct The university denies the accusation. The complainant, a top administrator, said she received a lewd photo in an email from a colleague.

Welder Hall at University of St. Thomas is seen on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008, in Houston. ( Julio Cortez / Chronicle ) Welder Hall at University of St. Thomas is seen on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008, in Houston. ( Julio Cortez / Chronicle ) Photo: Julio Cortez, Staff Photo: Julio Cortez, Staff Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Lawsuit: University of St. Thomas retaliated against woman who reported sexual misconduct 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A new lawsuit from a University of St. Thomas administrator accused the campus of botching the investigation into a sexual misconduct allegation, encouraging her silence and retaliating against her after she reported receiving a nude photo from a colleague.

Siobhan Fleming, the university's associate vice president for academic affairs, said in the lawsuit that she received the nude photo via email in 2015. She has now filed multiple complaints regarding the photo and how the university responded to her complaint, including Monday's filing and an August lawsuit in county court that she later withdrew.

In August, she sued two colleagues who she said sent and received the email, Adam Martinez and Dominic Aquila. Martinez, a director of the college's faith and culture program, sent the photo, Fleming said in the August filing. Aquila, then provost at St. Thomas, also received the email and told Fleming to delete it, Fleming says in Monday's lawsuit.

Days after that August lawsuit was filed Aquila announced he would leave his position as provost but remain a St. Thomas employee, a decision he said at the time was "long in the making."

Fleming has also filed complaints with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, the Texas Workforce Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging retaliation and sex discrimination, according to Monday's federal lawsuit.

Monday's suit offers new allegations regarding the contents of the email she said she received and what occurred after she said she reported it. In it, she accuses St. Thomas and its employees of silencing her accusations, improperly investigating her report and paring back her job responsibilities after she complained.

The email, the lawsuit said, was an "obscene sexual photograph" accompanied by text that "she interpreted to suggest that (the sender) was masturbating at home and planned to come in later 'to do as much of this as I can.'"

"The email and the image itself were highly disturbing for her," said Alexander Zalkin, a California-based attorney representing Fleming. "What was more disturbing and cause for more distress was St. Thomas' response."

Richard Ludwick, St. Thomas' president, said in a statement Tuesday through a spokesperson that the university was "surprised and disappointed to learn of the lawsuit."

"University of St. Thomas' internal investigation was conducted appropriately, and we had a third party, independent investigator," his statement read. "We have confidence in that process. The university's actions were appropriate in the investigation and the handling of the complaint. We did not retaliate."

A University of St. Thomas spokesman declined to comment on a detailed list of questions about the lawsuit. Aquila and Martinez did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

The university, like others across the city, was closed Tuesday due to Houston's weather.

The investigation

Fleming, a St. Thomas alumna who joined the university as an administrator in 2013, said in Monday's federal suit that the university's investigation into her report was a "sham."

First, she said in the suit, Aquila encouraged her to "delete (the email) immediately and not tell anyone about it" when she talked to him about the photograph.

After she said she urged the university to investigate the email as a violation of the school's sexual misconduct policy, she said Aquila told her that the email did not violate St. Thomas' policies "because the sender did not intend to harass Dr. Fleming," according to the lawsuit.

St. Thomas' sexual misconduct policy names "distribution of pornographic material" as a form of sexual misconduct.

Under federal law, St. Thomas' policy reads, most university officials who receive a report of sexual assault have to share that information for investigation.

"The University believes that no person should bear the effects of sexual misconduct, sexual assault, or related violence alone," the policy reads. "When sexual misconduct, sexual assault or some form of related violence occurs, the university's paramount concern is for the safety, health and well-being of those impacted."

She said in the suit that shortly after receiving the email, she told her brother, then a board member, about the complaint. He alerted the board chair, who told then-President Robert Ivany about the complaint, she said in the lawsuit.

"Aquila confronted Dr. Fleming in her office and berated her for informing members of the board about the obscene image she received," the lawsuit says. "Aquila told Dr. Fleming that he was trying to keep this from the Board, but now that they knew, St. Thomas would be forced to conduct an investigation."

The university's Title IX coordinator – an administrator named Randy Graham who is responsible for compliance with the federal nondiscrimination law – did not interview Fleming during the investigation, according to the lawsuit.

Graham told her that St. Thomas investigated the email as a potential violation of the university's technology resources policy and "did not find any pornography" on the sender's computer, according to the lawsuit.

"It became apparent that while all the men involved in the incident had been interviewed, she, the complainant and the only woman, had not," the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit says that when Fleming asked why St. Thomas did not investigate the allegation as sexual misconduct, Graham said Fleming did not report it as such. Fleming, however, said in the suit she asked the university to investigate the email as a violation of the sexual misconduct policy.

'Completely isolated'

Fleming said in the lawsuit she was removed from her position on multiple committees, including the staff affairs policy committee and the president's cabinet meeting group. St. Thomas leaders, she said in the lawsuit, directed colleagues and board members not to interact with her.

Her "job responsibilities have been reduced to virtually nothing," the suit reads, and she has been "completely isolated." The suit alleges that "Aquila's and St. Thomas' actions have been, and are, clearly intended to make Dr. Fleming's work environment so unbearable that she resign."

When she complained of retaliation in June, St. Thomas hired an outside firm to investigate but "did not offer any final report or relay the outcome of any investigation" after the investigation was completed in August, according to the lawsuit.

Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com.