Duquesne University lawyers have denied having committed discrimination, harassment or retaliation against a law school employee and filed a motion to have the woman's sexual harassment lawsuit dismissed.

Alice L. Stewart, described as "an administrative employee with part-time teaching duties," sued the university and its law school last month, claiming she had been the target of retribution since September 2006, when she filed a complaint with Duquesne alleging sexual harassment and a hostile work environment created by then-professor Kenneth Gormley.

Mr. Gormley was appointed interim dean of the Duquesne Law School in December 2008 and was given the dean's job March 29, 2010.

The university's answer to Ms. Stewart's complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, says, "Duquesne denies that Dean Gormley subjected [Ms. Stewart] to any retaliatory actions. To the contrary, Dean Gormley has at all times treated [her] lawfully and properly."

The response also noted that Ms. Stewart's complaint about sexual harassment to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was dismissed in 2007 with a finding of "no cause."

Timothy Kolman, the Philadelphia-based attorney for Ms. Stewart, on Tuesday said the EEOC ruling did not deny his client's charges. Rather, he said, the commission found that it could not conclude whether statutes had been violated.

Duquesne's response also says Ms. Stewart is not and never was a member of the law school's faculty and says she is, instead, "a clinical administrator." For that reason, the university says, the university has not responded to Ms. Stewart's request to address her complaints through the Faculty Grievance Committee.

"Duquesne admits that it has refused to participate in the grievance process ... because the Grievance Committee for Faculty has no jurisdiction over [this] grievance," the filing states.

Mr. Kolman countered that his client had been a professor until her complaints of discrimination prompted the university to retaliate by changing her status.

"When their own investigating committee found there was a basis for the sexual harassment and retaliation [charges]," Mr. Kolman said, "the university turned around and said, 'We cannot accept these because she is not a professor.' But the retaliation was what reduced her from being a professor to this 'assistant' status."

In her lawsuit, Ms. Stewart said she was subjected to numerous acts of retaliation, including having her job title changed, her pay reduced and her office relocated outside of the law school building. She also said she was passed over for a job opening for which she was more qualified than the person who was hired.

Duquesne's response denies all those points, saying that Ms. Stewart's salary was never reduced and that she was reassigned to Fisher Hall, "where all of the other clinical programs of the School of Law are located. ... [This] move was designed to integrate the practicums into the clinic space in Fisher Hall for the benefit of students and clients, as recommended by [a] consultant."

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