Six sue university in sex case
They say East Stroudsburg covered up inappropriate acts by an ex-official.
East Stroudsburg University was sued yesterday by five former students and one current student who claim they were sexually assaulted or propositioned by a top university official with a national reputation in higher-education circles.
The lawsuit says the state university and its president covered up the assaults and harassment by Isaac Sanders, the school's vice president for advancement, in an attempt to shield him from liability.
Sanders, who had been the university's chief fund-raiser since 2000, left East Stroudsburg in October after an investigation by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The state Human Relations Commission has also launched a probe.
The civil suit, filed in Monroe County Court, names as defendants the university, Sanders, university president Robert Dillman, the board of trustees, and others.
A university spokesman had no immediate comment. A spokesman for the State System of Higher Education declined to comment. An attorney for Sanders did not immediately return a phone message.
The lawsuit says Sanders, who is black, targeted emotionally fragile young black men from broken homes who looked to him as a father figure or mentor. He dangled scholarships and campus jobs, then either pressured students for sex or physically attacked them to commit sexual assaults, says the suit, which also alleges that Sanders misappropriated university funds.
The Monroe County district attorney has launched a criminal probe into the allegations, according to the Pocono Record.
Sanders has held executive positions at Stillman College, Tuskegee University, and Alabama State University, and has conducted seminars around the country on higher education administration and fund-raising.