A former Penn State department head filed a federal lawsuit against the university and two university officials, alleging that he was removed as philosophy department head for reporting discrimination and harassment within his department.

Mitchell Aboulafia, who was the philosophy department head from July 2003 to March 2004, filed a lawsuit against the university, College of the Liberal Arts Dean Susan Welch and former Associate Dean Ron Filippelli for a breach of contract, violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and violation of First and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

According to a 23-page brief Aboulafia's attorney filed last August, current and former senior faculty members in the department discriminated against and severely harassed students and graduate teaching assistants on the basis of sex, ethnicity and religion. When he tried to report the alleged discrimination, Aboulafia said he was removed as head of the department and demoted to faculty status, according to the court documents.

Court documents indicate Aboulafia is seeking reinstatement of his job, financial restitution, benefits and punitive damages.

When reached, Aboulafia said he could not answer any questions related to the lawsuit.

His attorney, Steven Hoffman, of the James and Hoffman law firm in Washington, D.C., is out of town and could not be reached for comment.

Welch and Filippelli, the two officials named in the complaints, refused to comment on the pending legal matter.

Their lawyer, Katherine Allen of McQuaide Blasko Attorneys, also said she would not comment.

"Our position is that the actions taken by the defendants were not inflammatory," she said.

Aboulafia states in his lawsuit that he received a report of discrimination and harassment from a female graduate teaching assistant. The report involved the same professor who had been accused of serious misconduct by others, according to court documents.

"The particular graduate teaching assistant had been harassed so severely that she felt it necessary to turn off her phone and sequester herself in her apartment for fear of further contact with the harassing faculty member," Aboulafia said, according to court documents.

Aboulafia said in his brief that the harassment violated not only Penn State policies, but also federal and state law prohibiting discrimination in employment and education.

On several occasions, Aboulafia said he informed Welch and Filippelli of these serious reports, and they dismissed them, according to court documents.

According to the documents, on March 11, 2004, Aboulafia contacted the director of Penn State's Affirmative Action Office, Kenneth Lehrman, to get advice on what he should do. According to the legal brief, he said Lehrman expressed concern and told Aboulafia he had acted properly in contacting the office.

On March 15, 2004, Welch allegedly wrote an e-mail message to Aboulafia, declaring it was "inappropriate" for him to contact the Affirmative Action Office and indicating that such matters should be kept within the office, according to Aboulafia's complaint.

Three days later, Aboulafia was terminated from his position as department head.

When reached yesterday, Lehrman said that because of the pending litigation, "it would be highly inappropriate to comment on this."

The university's response to the lawsuit states: "Dean Welch's decision to remove [Aboulafia] as head was based on legitimate, job-related reasons which were non-discriminatory and non-retaliatory."

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig, who also declined to comment on specifics because of the ongoing lawsuit, said the actions of Welch and Filippelli were legitimate.

The university's response also stated that many reports of one faculty member's actions "did not constitute illegal conduct."

Furthermore, the university's responding brief denied that Aboulafia made a report to Welch or Filippelli about the alleged incidents. To the contrary, Welch said she had decided to terminate Aboulafia from his position on or before March 9, waiting to inform him only until she had hired an interim successor, according to court documents.

Filippelli has retired from the university and currently serves on the State College Borough Council. Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said he had no comment other than that the lawsuit does not affect Filippelli's capacity as a council member.

Many students currently taking Aboulafia's political philosophy class said they are unaware of the lawsuit, but they like Aboulafia as a professor.

Matt Brennan (freshman-engineering) said he thinks Aboulafia loves his job and getting students involved in the classroom.

John Buckley (freshman-political science) said Aboulafia is very enthusiastic in the classroom and keeps the material fresh, never boring the students.

"He is really into the whole philosophy thing," he said.

The matter is pending in U.S. Middle District Court, and a discovery phase for the trial is scheduled to end this May.