2008 Woodie Awards
Court hears McPhee harassment case
Andy Harper
Issue date: 6/6/07 Section: News
MTSU President Sidney McPhee will be attending the Tennessee Supreme Court for a hearing of the sexual harassment case today in Nashville.
McPhee was unavailable for comment on today's appearance.
McPhee's former secretary, Tammie Allen, filed the civil suit in February of 2003 after an investigation by the Tennessee Board of Regents found inappropriate behavior by McPhee and Allen.
In 2004, Sidelines reported the resulting punishment from the TBR investigation included a 20-day supension and $10,000 pay decrease from McPhee's salary. Allen was relocated to another office and given an increase in salary, however, she claimed in her original suit that that "her assigned job and duties involve significantly less responsibility, prestige, privileges, accountability and job opportunities."
In addition to McPhee, the original suit also included then and now TBR Chancellor Charles Manning, citing "the TBR, under the discretion and control of Chancellor Manning, conducted an investigation that was incomplete and biased in favor of McPhee."
In the lawsuit, Allen is suing for damages resulting from "severe emotional distress, mental anguish, indignation, wounded pride, shame, and despair."
Defense argued that Allen did not properly follow campus policies on sexual harassment due to the delayed filing of her complaint. In addition, Allen filed her complaint with the TBR instead of the MTSU Equal Employment Opportunity office.
Gallatin courts dismissed the original case in December of 2004. Soon after, Allen filed an appeal with the Tennessee Supreme Court appellate system.
McPhee's case is third on the docket for today's hearing. In the appellate court, both the plaintiff and defendant are allotted 30 minutes to present their cases. The court will then decide deliberate and present the outcome.
McPhee was unavailable for comment on today's appearance.
McPhee's former secretary, Tammie Allen, filed the civil suit in February of 2003 after an investigation by the Tennessee Board of Regents found inappropriate behavior by McPhee and Allen.
In 2004, Sidelines reported the resulting punishment from the TBR investigation included a 20-day supension and $10,000 pay decrease from McPhee's salary. Allen was relocated to another office and given an increase in salary, however, she claimed in her original suit that that "her assigned job and duties involve significantly less responsibility, prestige, privileges, accountability and job opportunities."
In addition to McPhee, the original suit also included then and now TBR Chancellor Charles Manning, citing "the TBR, under the discretion and control of Chancellor Manning, conducted an investigation that was incomplete and biased in favor of McPhee."
In the lawsuit, Allen is suing for damages resulting from "severe emotional distress, mental anguish, indignation, wounded pride, shame, and despair."
Defense argued that Allen did not properly follow campus policies on sexual harassment due to the delayed filing of her complaint. In addition, Allen filed her complaint with the TBR instead of the MTSU Equal Employment Opportunity office.
Gallatin courts dismissed the original case in December of 2004. Soon after, Allen filed an appeal with the Tennessee Supreme Court appellate system.
McPhee's case is third on the docket for today's hearing. In the appellate court, both the plaintiff and defendant are allotted 30 minutes to present their cases. The court will then decide deliberate and present the outcome.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 8
jkirk
posted 6/06/07 @ 5:26 AM CST
So if the defendant is successful today will the name of MTSU blvd. be changed to Seven Wood Drive?
anonymous
posted 6/06/07 @ 8:45 AM CST
It sure must be nice to be allowed to break the law and get away with it.
All they have to do is ACCUSE a "real" teacher of similar allegations and they lose their job (and the ability to find another one in that field). (Continued…)
Dana Owens
posted 6/06/07 @ 11:57 AM CST
Very happy to see this in the paper. Good job guys--I look forward to updates! Maybe if we're lucky you all will get to cover 2 presidential elections in the near future. (Continued…)
Robin Gentry
posted 6/06/07 @ 2:38 PM CST
I am so tired of hearing about this situation, please let President McPhee have some peace. If this "poor" (sarcasm)
lady is so embarassed, then why does she keep appealing the situation? Clearly she has benefited enough from this so called incident because she got a pay increase and he got a decrease, I think that is biased also because before they made any decisions on anyone's pay, the case should have been finished. (Continued…)
Daniel Bridges
posted 6/12/07 @ 11:53 AM CST
> In the lawsuit, Allen is suing for damages resulting from "severe emotional distress, mental anguish, indignation, wounded pride, shame, and despair. (Continued…)
Anonymous
posted 6/14/07 @ 4:05 PM CST
I do know this: clearly, President McPhee cares about his students, faculty, and MTSU as a whole. If Ms. Allen is such a wonderful staff member at MTSU, then she would have a presence on campus. (Continued…)
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