What Price Profit? Fired Worker Asks DeVry

CLEVELAND (CN) - DeVry University fired a worker for reporting that a student tried to sexually assault her on campus, telling her she had "stepped outside of her position" by reporting it, the woman claims in court.

Amy Nagy sued DeVry University and two of its administrators on Sept. 11, in Cuyahoga County Court. It is a profit-seeking school.

Nagy says she was an operations support coordinator for DeVry, a job title that is not explained in the 8-page complaint.

She claims that a man whom she recognized as a student told her that he had forgotten his student ID, so she let him in to the door to the student lobby door at about 8:30 a.m. on April 5. She opened a classroom door for him, whereupon he "grabbed Nagy by the arms and shut the door behind them" and "began thrusting himself against her," Nagy says in the complaint.

After more sexual aggression, described in the complaint, Nagy says she broke free and saw a security guard, whose presence reassured her. Buoyed by his presence, she says, she "re-entered the classroom and briefly confronted the student about what had happened."

Nagy says she did not report the attack immediately because she "was embarrassed and just wanted to get past the incident."

But it was not until April 28, when, encouraged by a co-worker and her husband, Nagy told the story to Human Resources, she says.

The next day, April 29, defendant Chris Gilmore, the campus director, called her into his office and fired her, claiming "that she [had] 'stepped outside of her position,'" Nagy says in the complaint.

She seeks punitive damages for hostile workplace, retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and a corrective injunction.

She is represented by Brian Spitz, of Warrensville Heights.

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