A federal district-court judge has decided that a woman can sue her former professor for sexual harassment for calling her “Monica Lewinsky.”
Inbal Hayut sued the State University of New York at New Paltz and Alex Young, a professor of political science, who she contends created a “sexually hostile environment” by constantly referring to her as “Monica.” Judge David N. Hurd ruled that the professor’s words can be considered sexual harassment and is allowing the case to proceed.
Ms. Hayut, now 23, alleges that the university did nothing to rectify the situation and that Mr. Young’s actions hurt her morale and her grades, eventually forcing her to drop out.
“She made it clear to everyone in the room that she was not comfortable with the way he spoke to her or about her,” said Ms. Hayut’s lawyer, William G. Martin, who added that the name-calling extended outside the classroom and even led other students to call his client by the former White House intern’s name.
In his ruling, Judge Hurd noted that Professor Young “observed that the plaintiff wore the same-color lipstick as Monica Lewinsky, and made comments such as, ‘How was your weekend with Bill?’ and ‘Shut up, Monica. I’ll give you a cigar later,’” in front of the entire class in the fall of 1998. The judge dismissed allegations by Ms. Hayut, who is from Israel, of discrimination based on her religious background and national origin.
Professor Young, who has since retired, admits to making the references because he thought Ms. Hayut looked like Monica Lewinsky, but denies that his comments were anything other than making fun.
“He feels bad that it may have been tasteless or politically incorrect, but he certainly had no intention of making it a sexual thing,” said Kenneth Kelly, his lawyer. “It was joking and teasing.”
University officials reject claims of any wrongdoing. Both Mr. Young and the university had moved for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that the name-calling did not constitute sexual harassment.
“When it was brought to the attention of the administration, we took prompt action, and we’re confident that the university will be vindicated by these legal proceedings,” said Gail K. Gallerie, a spokeswoman for the university.
Monica Lewinsky’s spokeswoman, Juli Nadler, was unavailable for comment on Friday. But she told the New York Post that “Monica is dismayed this incident ever occurred, but that was in 1998, when her name was linked to presidential scandal. It’s February 2001, and when people hear her name now, they think Monica Lewinsky handbag designer, e-commerce entrepreneur, Yahoo Internet Life cover girl. ... Clearly she has moved on and taken her good name with her.”