LOS ANGELES (CNS) – 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.
In court papers filed Tuesday 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.
“Plaintiff does not and cannot allege that [David] Kang’s alleged harassment occurred in the workplace,” the USC attorneys state in their court papers, adding that her allegations are that the alleged misconduct occurred at Kang’s home, while Lee was in Korea, and in an off-site academic setting.
David 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 alleges she and other department students attended multiple gatherings at Kang’s home beginning in 2019 and Lee says she often visited Kang and his daughter at the professor’s home. Lee alleges Kang sent her inappropriate messages while she was in Korea at his home, and while she attended an online academic session.
Lee further contends Kang said he “wanted plaintiff to parent his children,” according to her suit.
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, the suit alleges.
Kang also called Lee a bad student, threatened her academic career and refused to read her completed dissertation, knowing that the actions would negatively impact Lee’s dissertation and derail her academic career, Lee alleges.
Lee studied in Australia for the 2022-23 academic year and in May 2023, another student reported to USC’s Title IX office that Kang allegedly had sexually harassed her and Lee, the suit states. In August 2023, Lee spoke with USC regarding Kang’s alleged harassment and in response, USC in January 2024 after an investigation, forbade Kang from contacting the plaintiff or other students, the suit states.
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.
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