
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 29, 1994                   TAG: 9409290062
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SEX SUIT AGAINST TECH PROFESSOR IS DROPPED

A federal judge has dismissed part of a $5 million lawsuit a former Virginia Tech student filed charging a professor with sexual harassment and accusing school officials of not helping her when she reported the behavior.

Mary Van Arsdel filed suit in February alleging that Joseph Franchina, who taught psychology, subjected her to unwelcome sexual advances throughout 1992.

She claimed that Franchina and the school violated her rights under Title IX of the federal education acts of 1972, which prohibits sexual discrimination in universities.

But U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser granted Franchina's motion to dismiss the suit against him this week, saying that under Title IX, Van Arsdel can't hold Franchina individually liable for violating her rights.

Franchina's attorney, David Paxton, said his client was pleased with the judge's decision and wants to put the suit behind him.

"From our perspective, the case never had any merit," Paxton said. "It's obviously been a big embarrassment ... Hopefully, his image won't be tarnished anymore."

The case isn't completely closed, because several counts of Van Arsdel's suit against the university still are pending.

Dave Nutter, a spokesman for the university, referred questions about the case to the attorney general's office, which could not be reached for comment.

Kiser said Van Arsdel has up to 14 days to amend and refile her suit, but Paxton said he interprets Kiser's decision to mean that Van Arsdel cannot include Franchina as a defendant if she amends the suit.

Van Arsdel, who is in her early 40s, was an undergraduate psychology student from August 1990 to May 1994.

Franchina was her faculty adviser from the fall of 1991 to the fall of 1992.

In her suit, Van Arsdel claimed that Franchina sabotaged her research and gave her an incomplete grade when she "made it clear" that she didn't want to have a sexual relationship with him.

Franchina, a Tech faculty member since 1969, was asked not to teach classes at the university last spring, but Nutter said the psychology professor is teaching two classes this semester.

by CNB