Former dean sues Tulane

Former Dean of Architecture Ronald Filson is filing a civil lawsuit against Tulane University.

Filson is suing Dean of Architecture Kenneth Schwartz and Tulane through Provost Michael Bernstein.

Allegations include breach of employment agreement and contract, detrimental reliance, negligent misrepresentation, action in defamation, age discrimination, existing medical condition discrimination and taking of intellectual property.

Filson served as dean of the School of Architecture from 1980 to 1991 and continued to teach until spring 2009. He created the Rome Program, a fall study-abroad program for the School of Architecture, and directed it in 2007 and 2008. While director of the Rome Program, he taught on campus in the spring.

In the lawsuit, Filson claimed that staff members had given him the impression that he would remain director of the Rome Program until he retired in 2012. Filson claimed that current dean Kenneth Schwartz then removed him from the post to open positions for younger faculty members and subsequently terminated his employment as an adjunct professor.

“The representation that had been made to him was that he would be the director of the Rome Program since he had created it and had been the only director and the founding director,” said Daniel Abel, Filson’s attorney. “The representation made to him was that when he reached his full retirement in 2012, up until that time, he would be the director of the program, which would put him in Rome in the fall and put him back teaching in the spring semester of every year.”

Following the termination of his employment at Tulane, Filson moved to Ohio to work in consulting.

“When they put him on notice that they were never going to hire him at all, which was never the agreement, then he said obviously, ‘I have to do something else,’ and he went to Ohio,” Abel said.

Abel said that Filson is seeking compensation for loss of income due to the alleged early termination of his employment.

“Civil law suits are meant to make you whole,” Abel said. “If I run a stop sign and I run into your car, and I break your arm, and I total your car, then for you to be made whole, I have to get you a car that’s the equivalent of what you lost, and I have to get your arm back in shape. And you get some pain and suffering. Essentially, he’s asking for the damages — what would make him whole had this never happened, had he continued as director of the program until his retirement in 2012.”

Public Relations Director Michael Strecker said that he could not speak in-depth about the case because it involves ongoing litigation.
“We believe Tulane University acted justly and fairly in this matter,” Strecker said.
Provost Michael Bernstein also declined to comment.

“I’m not at liberty to talk about a pending personnel matter,” Bernstein said. “I certainly can’t talk about a situation and the result of litigation. This is a legal matter, and it’s in the hands of the attorneys.”

Abel said that the case will go to court in a minimum of two years.