While USC is asking a judge to dismiss multiple claims in a lawsuit filed by a doctoral student who alleges a former tenured International Relations professor sexually harassed, discriminated against and assaulted her as well as other USC students and employees, the educator is denying the woman’s allegations.
In court papers previously filed with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Doreen B. Boxer in advance of a July 16 hearing, USC attorneys contend plaintiff Na Young Lee’s claims for sexual harassment, failure to prevent harassment, retaliation, discrimination, violations of her civil rights and those under the state Labor Code, negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress are all lacking in factual support. Lee alleges her harasser was then-Professor David C. Kang. In court papers filed June 2 with the same judge, Kang’s attorneys deny Lee’s allegations altogether and say the case should be dismissed and judgment entered in the professor’s favor. Kang’s lawyers also cite multiple defenses, including violation of the statute of limitations and that Lee consented to all of the matters at issue in her complaint.
In their court papers, the USC attorneys state that Lee’s claims involve alleged misconduct outside the university, including Kang’s home, while Lee was in Korea and in an off-site academic setting.
Kang, 61, was a tenured professor at USC from 2009 until March of this year. Lee, 38, like Kang is of Korean descent and enrolled as a doctoral student in USC’s Political Science and International Relations Dept. in 2017.
Lee went to Kang’s home in late October 2021 to help with his daughter’s Halloween costume and when Lee told the professor she was dating another USC educator, he became enraged, grabbed her legs and shouted, “I want to marry you, I want to have children with you,” and accused the plaintiff repeatedly of sending him signals that she wanted a romantic relationship with him, the suit alleges.
Kang then sent Lee and the other professor a series of hostile messages over the next 12 hours, according to the suit.
In June 2025, USC’s Committee on Professional Responsibility issued a sanctions decision against Kang, his appeal was denied and his tenured employment ended in March, according to the USC attorneys’ court papers.