Former Rochester Institute of Technology professor Robert Manning sues RIT over his ouster
Democrat and Chronicle
November 2, 2010
A former Rochester Institute of Technology professor, who is a national expert on credit card abuse, is claiming that his tenure request was improperly handled and that he was forced out of RIT.
Robert Manning has filed a lawsuit against RIT, alleging that Ashok Rao, dean of RIT's E. Philip Saunders College of Business, did not let the tenure process play out fairly.
"RIT's decision to deny Dr. Manning tenure was the direct result of the improper influence of Dean Rao," says Manning's complaint, filed in June in state Supreme Court.
Manning's lawsuit, which seeks his reinstatement, was brought under a section of state law, Article 78, used to challenge tenure denial on the grounds that the college didn't properly follow its own procedures. The case is now before Justice Ann Marie Taddeo, with no hearing date set.
RIT officials and Rao declined to comment. RIT officials said they don't discuss pending litigation.
Court papers filed by RIT in the case fault Manning's teaching and deny wrongdoing, saying that the college followed "its rules and acted in good faith and its actions were neither arbitrary nor irrational."