Duke University must go to trial on a former researcher’s claim that the school initiated a misconduct investigation against her in retaliation for filing a sexual harassment complaint.
The temporal proximity of Brahmajothi Mulugu’s sexual harassment report and when Duke initiated the investigation could support an inference that it was retaliatory, Chief Judge Catherine C. Eagles of the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina said Wednesday.
But Eagles also adopted recommendations from Magistrate Judge L. Patrick Auld to grant summary judgment to Duke on Mulugu’s remaining claims.
Mulugu asserted that roughly a week after she reported ...