LYNCHBURG, Va. – The man who most recently served as the senior vice president of university communications at Liberty University has filed a federal lawsuit against his former employer.
On Monday, Scott Lamb filed the lawsuit, in which he claims that “his vocal opposition to the University’s mishandling of sexual assault and harassment complaints” led to him being fired.
The lawsuit is in the U.S District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
In the 9-page filing, Lamb discusses an Oct. 4, 2021, meeting involving him and some members of the university’s leadership team, including University President Jerry Prevo.
During the meeting, Lamb, “expressed dismay over the direction of the University and concern that the University had strayed so far from its original mission,” according to the lawsuit.
After that, the discussion became heated and the lawsuit states that Prevo threatened Lamb’s employment and demanded his resignation.
Lamb said “he would not be silenced or participate in a cover-up of activities within the University that Plaintiff believes contradicted the law, including, but not limited to, the University’s mishandling of many well-publicized reports of sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination on campus,” stated the lawsuit.
The lawsuit goes on, stating that Lamb’s “vocal opposition to the University’s handling of what [Lamb] believed to be corrupt practices, which included the University’s failure to address Title IX violations, by the highest levels of University leadership and the Board of Trustees.”
This October 4 meeting was not the first time that Lamb had raised Title IX violations to members of the university’s executive leadership team, according to the lawsuit.
The day after that meeting, Lamb met with the university’s general counsel David Corry; however, according to the lawsuit, Lamb refused the severance package because he did not want to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
The next day, October 6, Lamb received a call from the university’s Human Resources department notifying him of his immediate termination.
The lawsuit claims that the university’s actions against Lamb constitute retaliation in violation of Title IX.
Lamb is demanding a jury trial in this case.
10 News reached out to Lamb, but he denied our request for an interview.
Liberty University provided 10 News with this statement in response to the lawsuit:
“Liberty University categorically denies Mr. Lamb’s claims that his termination was in any way the result of advice he had given on how the university should respond to the Jane Doe Title IX lawsuit. In reality, Mr. Lamb was terminated-with-cause as a result of a meeting about a recent review of the area under his management. Lamb’s lawsuit is a transparent effort to rebuild his own reputation by shamefully playing on the goodwill of supporters of sexual assault victims. We look forward to addressing his claims in court.``