Fired head of security sues Roxbury Community College www.privateofficer.com

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 Boston MA Nov 4 2012 The former head of security at Roxbury Community Collegeis suing the school and three of its officials for wrongful termination anddefamation, arguing that he was fired for disclosing the college’s failure toreport allegations of sexual assault on campus as required by federal law.
“Instead of protecting students . . . the administration andofficers at the college have protected their own,” a lawyer for Thomas Galvin,the school’s former director of facilities and public safety, wrote in a civilcomplaint filed Oct. 19 in ­Middlesex Superior Court.
None of the officials named as defendants in the suit —interim president Linda Edmonds ­Turner, vice president of administration andfinance Chuks ­Okoli, and human resources ­director P. Paul Alexander — couldbe reached for comment Thursday night.Karen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for thecollege, declined to discuss the lawsuit.
“Roxbury Community Collegeofficials have not had an opportunity to review this complaint,” she said in astatement. “The college will decline further comment, except to say that westand behind the action we took and will vigorously defend our position incourt.”

According to the complaint, Galvin was fired in August inretaliation for his actions as a whistle-blower.
“Despite that it was Mr. ­Galvin who exposed the cover-up ofreported sexual assaults on campus to the college and then reported thosefailures to the [US] Department of Education and the director of state audits,[the defendants] set up Mr. Galvin as ‘the fall guy’ in ­order to protect thecollege and their jobs,” the complaint states.
The allegations of sexual ­assault came to ­Galvin’sattention in 2010 and 2011, according to the complaint, and one involved aprofessor who was accused of sexually violating a student and who had beenfired in 2006 after another student made a similar accusation.
Orestes Brown, a lawyer for Galvin, said Thursday that hisclient was unavailable for comment. Galvin, 55, of Belmont, is the brother of Secretary of StateWilliam F. Galvin. He is currently unemployed.
Last month, the college ­released a lengthy document,detailing what it said were serious allegations of crime ­reported to theschool in 2011, as well as many ­allegations from 2010 and 2009 that it hadpreviously failed to ­include in statistics provided to the federal government,as mandated under the Clery Act.
A Globe investigation found that RCC had not reported anysexual offenses to the federal government in the past decade, even thoughstudents and others complained to administrators that they had been victims ofsexual crimes over that time.
Roxbury Community College has notyet filed a response to Galvin’s complaint, and no hearing dates have been set.
Galvin contends school officials have tried to blame him forthe possible lapses in crime reporting. “Mr. Galvin’s reputation, physicalhealth, and emotional state have suffered as a result of his firing by thecollege,” the complaint states. He is seeking unspecified damages against thecollege and the other defendants.