Interdepartmental dispute results in law suit against UA
A tenured UA professor slapped university officials with a $2.5 million lawsuit Jan. 4, alleging defamation and a hostile work environment.
Wayne E. Coates, an Arid Land Studies research professor, is suing his supervisors and the University of Arizona for a decade of purported harassment.
Coates filed a complaint with the State Attorney General's Office Dec. 17, and is suing Director of Arid Land Studies Ken Foster, his wife and Dean Eugene Sander for a series of alleged injustices including wrongful retaliation for whistle blowing.
The problems started about 10 years ago with a dispute between the College of Arid Land Studies and the College of Agriculture, Coates states in his complaint. The departments were clashing because of improperly removed money from research projects under the direction of Coates, who had been with the UA for seven years.
In 1997, Coates' accounts were frozen and Foster interfered with his projects, the complaint states. Coates claims that in May, Foster accused him of laundering money for a South American drug cartel after bringing up $5,000 for the UA from Argentina.
The dispute resulted in harassment, an audit of Coates' accounts and a denied promotion, the complaint states. Coates states that Foster intentionally interfered with his funding, rendering him unable to carry out research projects.
UA attorney Elizabeth Buchanan refused comment because of the pending lawsuit.
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