Paul Secunda, a professor at Marquette University Law School, was suspended recently over allegations of having an inappropriate relationship with a student.
“Paul Secunda has been removed from his duties, including teaching, at Marquette University as the result of information developed from an investigation that began last May. Marquette will not comment further on the issue at this time,” Marquette spokesperson Chris Stolarski said in a statement.
Secunda was suspended two weeks prior to the end of the 2018 fall semester.
Secunda taught authority on labor and employment law and was the director of the Marquette Law School’s Labor and Employment Law Program. He was the founder and former faculty adviser of the Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review. Secunda was also the faculty adviser for the student-run Marquette University Labor and Employment Law Society.
Secunda released a statement through his attorney Jennifer Walther to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I assume Marquette University has chosen to act as it has toward me to protect the university. This does not diminish the great respect I have for this institution and my fellow professors,” the statement read. Nonetheless, I cannot stand by idly in the face of what I believe to be an injustice. I have confidence in the process Marquette and the faculty have established to protect tenured professors in these circumstances, and believe I will clear my name at the end.”
The university did not disclose whether the student was in Secunda’s class or whether she filed the original complaint.
The case will head to the Faculty Hearing Committee, where the committee can gather more information beyond any initial review and hold a hearing for consideration of discipline.
