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Former Student Sues U Of I For $6 Million

Univ. of Illinois

A former University of Illinois graduate student is suing the school's board of trustees and others, claiming administrators retaliated against her after she accused a visiting researcher of sexual harassment. 

In the lawsuit filed in June Hye-Young Park demands $6 million.  

She accuses the researcher, Charles Secolsky, of repeatedly pursuing and harassing her in 2014 and trying to force her to watch a sexually explicit video while she was a student at the Urbana-Champaign campus. He also is named in the lawsuit.  

Park claims that when she complained to the university, administrators denied responsibility since he was not an employee. She says a professor who had agreed to supervise her then quickly rescinded the offer.  

University spokeswoman Robin Kaler declined to comment other than to repeat that Secolsky was not an employee. 

Secolsky told the Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/1LJ2Y38 ) Park pursued him. He denied wrongdoing.

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