SAN ANTONIO — While a pair of students who filed lawsuits alleging sexual harassment by their professor at the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry have chosen to remain anonymous, their attorney, Terry Gorman, spoke on their behalf to media Wednesday.
The students, both of Iranian descent, are referred to as “Mary Doe” and “Jane Doe” in the lawsuits. They claim associate professor Marcel Noujeim began sexually harassing them in 2017, alleging he discriminated them based on their gender, ethnicity and religious backgrounds. The suit states that Noujeim is Lebanese and a Christian.
“They have been targeted, bullied and sexually harassed by this professor,” Gorman said. “My clients have over 2,000 pages of emails, texts and recordings, (and) there are other witnesses.”
Mary Doe claims that Noujeim stalked her through email, texts and phone calls. She details one incident when the professor even locked her inside an office and would not let her leave.
In addition to the inappropriate comments and requests for sexually-charged photos, Mary Doe said he made racial slurs. She says that he compared her to a video of an Iranian woman shooting people in front of other students.
The second student, Jane Doe, claims the professor made inappropriate comments about her physical appearance and kissed her head. And she said when she refused his advances, he retaliated against her.
The students both allege he spread lies about their academic performance to other faculty members and purposely made school harder. The lawsuit claims that the students would have graduated soon with their degrees to enter the dentistry field if it weren’t for Noujeim’s alleged actions.
KENS 5 reached out to UT Health San Antonio for comment on the allegations against the professor; a spokesperson said that since the institution itself hasn't been served with a lawsuit, officials would not provide comment.
The students are seeking $5 million and the immediate termination of Noujeim.
“This has gone far too long and it needs to stop," Gorman said. "The university has played games with what they're going to do with him and he continues to harm people."