Novio v. N.Y. Acad. of Art

286 F. Supp. 3d 566
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedDecember 12, 2017
Docket17 Civ. 5648 (RWS)
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 286 F. Supp. 3d 566 (Novio v. N.Y. Acad. of Art) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Novio v. N.Y. Acad. of Art, 286 F. Supp. 3d 566 (S.D. Ill. 2017).

Opinion

ROBERT W. SWEET, U.S.D.J.

Defendants the New York Academy of Art ("NYAA" or the "Academy"), NYAA Holdings, LLC ("NYAA Holdings"), David Kratz ("Kratz"), Wade Schuman ("Schuman"), and Margaret Bowland ("Bowland") (collectively, the "Defendants") have moved pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss the complaint ("Complaint") of Plaintiff Sarah Novio ("Novio" or the "Plaintiff"), in which she alleged claims of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, a hostile educational environment, unlawful retaliation, and breach of contract. Based on the facts and conclusions set forth below, the Defendants' motions to dismiss are granted in part, and denied in part.

I. Prior Proceedings

Plaintiff commenced this action on July 25, 2017, alleging sex discrimination, sexual harassment, a hostile educational environment, and unlawful retaliation in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681, et seq. , the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law §§ 290, et seq. , and the New York City Human Rights Law, *572N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-101, et seq. , and for breach of contract under New York State law, as set forth in the Complaint and as set forth below. The instant motion was filed on October 3, 2017, and was argued and marked fully submitted on November 15, 2017.

II. The Facts

The Complaint sets forth the following facts, which are assumed true for the purpose of this motion to dismiss. See Koch v. Christie's Int'l PLC , 699 F.3d 141, 145 (2d Cir. 2012).

The Plaintiff, Sarah Novio, is a former student and current alumna of Defendant NYAA. (Compl. ¶ 9.) The Plaintiff attended NYAA from September 2013 until May 2015, when she graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts degree. (Compl. ¶ 2.) The Plaintiff took courses from Defendant Schuman, an NYAA professor and Department Chairman, in 2014 and 2015, (Defs.' Br. Ex. A) during which time the Plaintiff found that Schuman's persistent sexual commentary in the classroom and inappropriate touching of female students created a hostile educational environment that interfered with the Plaintiff's education.1 (Compl. ¶ 30.)

Specifically, the Plaintiff alleges Schuman made repeated sexist comments in class, including the following: Schuman made comments about the Plaintiff's "sexiness" that made her uncomfortable; Schuman asked the Plaintiff if anyone told her that her looks did not match her voice, and that the mismatch was "kind of sexy"; Schuman told the Plaintiff that she was "perfect" in front of the entire class, accompanied by a facial expression and tone of voice that made clear that he was hitting on the Plaintiff and referring to her in a sexual manner; when the Plaintiff objected to a sexist comment Schuman made in class, Schuman announced in front of the class that "all women are bitches" and that "men should just stay single"; when a female student had cramps and was not feeling well, Schuman announced in front of the entire class, "you women have excuses with your period for everything"; and Schuman repeatedly commented on the clothing worn by the Plaintiff and other female students, and never commented on the clothing of male students. (Compl. ¶¶ 17-22, 29.)

Further, Schuman displayed improper sexually-charged conduct on several other occasions, including the following: when Schuman invited his wife to give a guest lecture to the class, he came up behind the Plaintiff and grabbed her waist and smiled at her as he walked away, startling the Plaintiff and making her uncomfortable; Schuman touched or grabbed female students in front of the Plaintiff, which made the Plaintiff noticeably uncomfortable; Schuman exacerbated this discomfort by looking at the Plaintiff with a facial expression that communicated his awareness of the Plaintiff's discomfort; Schuman massaged a female faculty member's shoulders in front of students, and told a student that Catholicism is the most sexual religion; Schuman told a female *573student in class that she was very attractive, and told another female student that she was beautiful and that she made him feel calm; Schuman appeared in front of students in a classroom with a woman sitting on his lap and with her arms around him; when a male student hugged Schuman in class, Schuman pushed the student away and said that he does not hug students; later, Schuman hugged the Plaintiff tightly and inappropriately; Plaintiff complained to Schuman and told him that she did not want to be touched or hugged by him, but Schuman ignored her complaints and hugged the Plaintiff at graduation.2 (Compl. ¶¶ 23-29.)

Due to these repeated interactions that the Plaintiff viewed to be highly inappropriate, the Plaintiff was consistently worried that she would run into Schuman at NYAA's facilities and be subjected to his sexist comments and inappropriate touching. (Compl. ¶ 30.) Plaintiff alleges that Schuman's persistent sexual comments and touching distracted her and significantly interfered with her ability to engage in and enjoy her studies. (Compl. ¶ 30.) Moreover, Schuman allegedly showed favoritism to female students who reacted favorably to his sexual comments and advances, and the Plaintiff believed this to be Schuman implicitly communicating a quid pro quo to the Plaintiff and other female students, such that the Plaintiff worried that Schuman could block her from important academic and career opportunities if she was not nice to him. (Compl. ¶ 31.)

Several students, but not the Plaintiff specifically at this point, complained to NYAA's senior administrators about Schuman's sexual harassment of female students. (Compl. ¶ 32.) While the Plaintiff "supported" the complaints made by other female students against Schuman's sexual harassment in the classroom and NYAA's allegedly deliberate indifference response by "provid[ing] additional evidence in support of their claims and participat[ing] in efforts to get the school to change its policies and practices condoning Schuman's conduct," she did not personally file any complaints about Schuman's behavior with NYAA. (Compl. ¶ 36.) Examples of complaints by other students are as follows: in April 2014, Camila Yoshimoto complained to the NYAA administration about Schuman's conduct. She later met with the Dean of NYAA, who dismissed the complaints by saying that it was "just Wade being Wade." (Compl. ¶ 33.) In October 2014, Jedhy Vargas filed a written complaint against Schuman with NYAA, and scheduled a meeting with the Dean. The Dean refused to take any action against Schuman. (Compl. ¶ 34.) In October 2015, Magaly Vega-Lopez formally complained to the NYAA faculty and administration about Schuman's inappropriate conduct. NYAA did not take any action against Schuman. (Compl.

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Bluebook (online)
286 F. Supp. 3d 566, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/novio-v-ny-acad-of-art-ilsd-2017.