CCSU paid over $500k settlement to terminated professor accused of sexual misconduct
NEW BRITAIN, CT — Former Central Connecticut State University theatre professor Thomas Delventhal was terminated by the University on May 24, 2019, after an investigation found he engaged in sexual misconduct with students. But according to Connecticut’s Open Payroll website, the University has paid out $507,625 to him this year.
That figure is part of a settlement the University negotiated to ensure Delventhal’s retirement from CCSU after an arbitrator found that there was insufficient evidence to warrant his termination, according to University spokeswoman Janice Palmer.
Delventhal was placed on paid administrative leave in January 2019 after being implicated in an investigation that was launched by the University in response to an article published by the student-run newspaper, The Recorder, alleging sexual misconduct by another theatre department professor, Joshua Perlstein. The nine-month investigation, conducted by Hartford law firm Shipman and Goodwin, reported that Delventhal admitted to kissing several female students on the neck and forehead. There were also allegations that Delventhal had inappropriate relationships with one or more students.
In an email, Palmer said that the settlement came after Delventhal grieved his termination and the matter went to arbitration. Though the arbitrator found Delventhal’s kissing of students on the neck to be “sexual in nature” and “extremely inappropriate and well outside the traditional boundaries of faculty student interaction,” the arbitrator ruled there was not enough evidence to terminate Delventhal and ordered that he be reinstated, according to Palmer.
University President Zulma Toro was “extremely concerned” with the arbitrator’s findings and the prospect of allowing Delventhal back in the classroom, Palmer said. Instead, the University opted to negotiate his retirement. The settlement called for the $507,625 payment, which included back pay and benefits, according to Palmer.
According to the Open Payroll website, Delventhal’s last regular paycheck was dated June 7, 2019, two weeks after his dismissal from the University. The next payment Delventhal received from the University was two weeks later, on June 21. He received a payment of $26,564, an amount equivalent to 71 days of his salary. Delventhal didn’t receive another payment from the University for over a year, until the $507,625 payment on Aug. 28, 2020.
The back pay is for the period of about 14 months of salary he missed between his last regular paycheck and the settlement payout, where he was terminated but in the process of appealing the decision.
The payment is equivalent to about five years of his salary and came about two weeks after the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a former CCSU student, who alleged that she was “subject of severe and pervasive sexual harassment and emotional abuse” by Delventhal and that the University “failed to protect her.”
The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal district court with prejudice, meaning the court has made a final ruling on the case and the plaintiff may not file another lawsuit on the same grounds. According to court records, the dismissal was stipulated and agreed to by both parties on Aug. 11, 2020.
Delventhal declined to comment for this story.