Officials with Michigan State University have filed a second motion to dismiss a lawsuit from former business school dean Sanjay Gupta.
Gupta was removed as dean of the Broad College of Business last year after he failed to report sexual misconduct of an associate dean.
He named several MSU officials, including Interim President Teresa Woodruff and former president Samuel Stanley Jr., in a complaint earlier this year.
The document alleges he was defamed and unfairly removed from his position.
The officials filed a motion to dismiss in May, calling Gupta's claims of grievance "baseless" and lacking in evidence.
The court dismissed that request as moot, or inapplicable, after the former dean's legal team submitted an amended version of the suit last month, adding all members of the Board of Trustees as defendants.
Now, those administrators are trying for a second time to get the judge presiding over the case to dismiss Gupta’s complaint.
"Plaintiff Sanjay Gupta’s (complaint) should be seen for precisely what it is: an improper attempt to have this (c)ourt take on the role of super-personnel department for a public institution of higher education," the administrators wrote in the motion.
Officials argue they are unable to provide the relief he’s requesting, and that Gupta’s own conduct has led him to face consequences.