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 can move forward for now with most of her claims, a judge has ruled.
Plaintiff Na Young Lee alleges her harasser was then-Professor David C. Kang. In a hearing Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Doreen B. Boxer said Lee had provided sufficient details to support eight of nine claims challenged by USC, including sex discrimination and harassment, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent supervision and civil rights violations.
The judge dismissed Lee’s cause of action for a violation of the state Labor Code in which the plaintiff alleged she had been “blacklisted” in her attempts to find future employment.
“Here, plaintiff’s allegations completely lack any reference to the elements of a misrepresentation about her as a former employee to any prospective employer,” Boxer wrote
In their court papers, the USC attorneys stated 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 earlier 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.
In separate court papers, Kang’s attorneys have denied 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.