A year after a university was accused of being tragically slow in responding to harassment concerns about a professor, it is now accused overreacting to questionable concerns about another professor.

Colleen Flaherty of Inside Higher Ed files this report:

Many universities have been accused of ignoring harassment complaints against professors, leaving students and fellow faculty members vulnerable. The University of Idaho is among such institutions, following the 2011 murder of a graduate student by a professor and former lover she’d reported for harassment. But now the university is being sued by an ex-professor, with backing from the faculty association, for leaving a faculty member vulnerable — and without a job — because of accusations that were never proved.

A divided faculty appeals board eventually sided with Sanjay Gupta, former assistant professor of agricultural and life sciences. But after seven months of silence from Idaho on whether it will restore his job, he is now suing the institution for wrongful dismissal and other counts in a federal court. It’s a complicated case, given the close friendship Gupta, his wife and his accuser shared. Ultimately, however, as Idaho’s Faculty Appeals Hearing Board wrote in its letter to President Dennis Geist, “it boils down to the fact that one university employee (or former employee) is lying.”

Priyanka Gajjar, Gupta’s accuser, is now at the University of Idaho’s main campus in Moscow, where she was transferred from an off-site research and education center in which they both worked. She referred questions about the case to the university, which said it couldn’t comment on pending litigation. Gupta, who after he was dismissed moved to the University of Minnesota, said he wanted “justice.” But he referred all other questions back to his lawyer, and Nick Gier, a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Idaho and president of the Idaho Federation of Teachers. The faculty association has agreed to help the professor with his legal fees.

“I don’t think I’ve seen such an egregious violation of due process,” said Gier, who has been handling termination disputes for the union for 40 years. “The university was in defense mode. They assumed that [Gupta] was guilty before he could be proven innocent.” Disgraced among his colleagues, Gier added, Gupta is now working primarily as a grant writer at Minnesota, where he worked as a researcher before starting on the tenure track at Idaho. Gier said it’s the only place that would take him, after rumors of the allegations spread among scientists in his field.