Feds join harassment suit against U.

Former Linguistics graduate student Brian Linson couldn't find a lawyer to represent him when he first filed a 1995 sexual harassment lawsuit against the University. Then the U.S. Department of Justice, on the lookout for sex discrimination cases, found Linson. Without any prior notice, the agency's Civil Rights Division stepped in last January to aid Linson in his appeal of a 1996 federal court decision in favor of the University. Linson's appeal now depends on a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the court will rule whether same-sex harassment constitutes discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In his own lawsuit, Linson accuses the University of allowing another male student to grab his genitals and ask for sexual favors. "Now it's Linson and the United States [versus] Penn," said the 31-year-old Linson. "It makes my case much more powerful." The Supreme Court case, Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., centers upon a Louisiana man's claims that his boss and two co-workers, all male, sexually harassed him while he was employed on an offshore oil rig. The men allegedly pushed a bar of soap into Joseph Oncale's anus while he showered and threatened to rape him. In deciding against Oncale, the U.S. District Court and Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans both ruled that federal law didn't cover same-sex harassment claims. Oncale's attorneys appealed the May 1996 decision to the nation's highest court -- and the timing couldn't have been better for Linson. "Without the United States' interest being expressed, the [appeals court] judges? can just throw the case out," Linson said. Linson, a San Diego State University graduate who began his doctoral work at Penn in 1991, claims that fellow graduate student Kenjiro Matsuda sexually harassed him for about seven months beginning in September 1992. When Matsuda accused Linson of altering Matsuda's personal computer files, Linson said he did it because of Matsuda's harassment. In June 1993, the case went to the University's internal judicial system, which eventually dismissed Matsuda's charges. Linson, however, continued to press his sexual harassment complaint. The University dropped Linson from its program before his complaint wound its way through Penn's judicial system, claiming that he owed the University nearly $10,000 and had failed to register for the fall 1993 semester. Linson filed his lawsuit against Penn in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia in June 1995. After a series of motions and counter-motions by both sides, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kelly ruled in favor of the University in August 1996, saying that Linson "failed to point to anything in the record indicating that the University's alleged discriminatory actions were gender-based." But five months later, Department of Justice attorney Linda Thome called Linson out of the blue, gave him the government's Federal Express account number and told him to send her all documents pertaining to the case so she could prepare a brief, Linson said. "Contrary to the district court's holding, there is no requirement that a plaintiff seeking to establish a Title IX violation also demonstrate that the educational institution treated his or her complaint differently because of his or her gender," the brief states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has put Linson's case on hold pending the Supreme Court's decision in Oncale, even though Linson and Oncale brought their claims under different parts of civil rights law. Thome wasn't available for comment yesterday, and the University's outside attorney, Joe Tucker, referred questions to Associate General Counsel Brenda Fraser, who didn't respond to repeated telephone calls for comment.