A respected neuroscientist claims that a dirty dean at the New York Institute of Technology wrecked her career after she rebuffed his sleazy sexual advances, The Post has learned.
Dr. Linda Friedman, 54, claims that her boss, Dr. Brian Hallas, couldn’t control his lab coat libido and blew his top when she spurned his relentless harassment, according to a new $7.5 million lawsuit.
Friedman, 54, of Valley Stream, was hired as an associate professor in 2005 after stints at Albert Einstein College, Yeshiva University, and the University of Louisville, the suit states.
While the popular teacher co-existed with Hallas without incident for several years, their chemistry soured beginning in 2009.
Despite her marriage to a rabbi, Hallas turned up the burners on his pursuit of Friedman, the suit claims.
“In October 2009, during a private conversation with Dr. Friedman, Dr. Hallas asked her to have sex with him,” according to court papers. “Dr. Friedman rejected this advance, but Dr. Hallas did not take no for a answer.”
Despite the setback, Hallas, 60, kept experimenting..
“While discussing a potential business opportunity, Dr. Hallas asked Dr. Friedman if he could see her naked,” the suit states.
The raven-haired researcher also claims that Hallas — now the dean at NYIT’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury — purposely poked her with an erection at a stuffy scholarly reception.
“Most recently, at an NYIT/NYCOM scholar’s reception in April, 2011, Dr. Hallas pulled Dr. Friedman close to him and brushed his erect penis against her during photographs,” the suits charges.
Friedman’s rejections led to a campaign of slander and sabotage, and eventually, in her dismissal from the school, the suit states.
“Dr. Hallas was enraged and infuriated by Dr. Friedman’s rejection of him and launched a vicious retaliatory campaign against her,” according to court document.
Friedman claims Hallas refused to sign off on her grant proposals, cut her out of important research projects and forced her to allow students to plagiarize her work, the suit claims.
Finally, Hallas refused to recommend her for reappointment and her position at the school was not renewed.
When she complained, higher-ups told her that Hallas had a booze problem and couldn’t help himself, the suit states.
He also began forcing her to use her vacation days to take off on Jewish holidays.
Friedman claims that she complained to several grievance boards about her treatment but was told that Hallas ”had a problem with alcohol and that he was “not responsible for his actions,” according to the suit.
Friedman and Hallas would not comment on the case.