USC, Professor Named in Doctoral Student's Sexual Harassment Suit

A former USC student has sued the school and a university professor, alleging the professor sexually harassed her while she was a doctoral student and his research assistant, and that he resented with unfair assessments of her graduate work when she objected.

The plaintiff’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit also alleges civil rights violations, sexual discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent harassment, discrimination and retaliation, sexual assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. She names as defendants USC and Professor David C. Kang.

According to the suit, the plaintiff was effectively terminated by Kang as his research assistant and he gave her a failing grade on her substantive paper for the qualifying exam — even though he previously stated it was satisfactory — because she refused to bow to his alleged sexual misconduct.

A USC representative released a statement Wednesday regarding the suit.

“The university takes reports of sexual harassment and discrimination very seriously and has a comprehensive process for investigating them,” the statement read. “We are reviewing the lawsuit in detail”

The lawsuit states that Kang is director of both the Korean Studies Institute and of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, and that he is still a tenured USC professor.

“USC held Kang out as a trustworthy and upstanding professor and mentor and USC deliberately crafted this public image of USC and Kang … in order to actively conceal the fact that it employs Kang and other sexual predators and has allowed Kang unfettered sexual access to victimize USC’s young female students and/or employees, including plaintiff, and to racially target plaintiff and other female victims … because they are Asian and/or Asian/Korean,” the suit states.

Kang, who also is Korean, was chairman of the plaintiff’s academic department and her dissertation adviser. According to the suit, he began grooming her by asking her to lunch in November 2021. Kang later hired the woman as a research assistant so he could directly supervise her, according to her complaint.

Kang sexually harassed the plaintiff by treating her in sexually stereotypical ways, including telling her that his children needed a mother, that the professor had trouble buying his daughter clothes or sanitary pads and also by asking the plaintiff to take his daughter shopping in South Korea, the following states.

The plaintiff initially resisted Kang’s requests to take his daughter shopping, not wanting to be put in the role of his wife, but later felt pressured to acquiesce, the suit states.

Kang “made clear that plaintiff’s job duties as his research assistant included `doing stuff for me,”’ the suit alleges.

Once while they were both behind closed doors, Kang touched the plaintiff’s hair and said, “I used to have jet black hair like you,” while another time he slapped her buttocks with rolled up papers, according to the suit.

On yet another occasion, Kang had the plaintiff and other female doctorate students watch a movie, the plot of which included a teacher having an affair with his student, the suit states.

The plaintiff mustered the courage to send Kang an email objecting to his behavior, which brought a feigned apology from the professor in response, according to the suit, which further states that Kang retaliated by demeaning her doctorate work and telling her she should get a new adviser unless she was “willing to amend” their relationship.

USC did not do enough to protect the plaintiff from Kang and a suspension imposed upon him by the university during a Title IX investigation was a “sham,” the suit alleges.