Kamehameha’s former
CEO files defamation suitHamilton McCubbin sues
an attorney for allegedly falsely
stating how he left his last job
Former Kamehameha Schools Chief Executive Officer Hamilton McCubbin has filed a defamation suit against an attorney for his former employer the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In an 11-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court yesterday, McCubbin alleged that John Dowling, senior university legal counsel for UW-Madison, falsely stated that McCubbin was forced to resign from his academic post three years ago to settle a sexual harassment complaint by a professor.
McCubbin, a former dean of UW-Madison's School of Human Ecology, said he was not forced out of the university, but left on his own in January 2000 to become the Kamehameha Schools' first chief executive officer.
He said publication of Dowling's statement directly called into question his ability to serve as Kamehameha Schools' chief executive.
Dowling could not be reached for comment.
In a May 6 article, the Honolulu Advertiser reported that Dowling said the university took no disciplinary action against McCubbin, but that his resignation was a condition to settling a complaint by former university professor Jikyeong Kang.
Kang had alleged that McCubbin repeatedly harassed her over three years.
The university paid Kang $85,000 in 1999 to settle her complaint, but McCubbin cited an internal investigation by the university that concluded no wrongdoing on his part.
He said Kang filed the complaint after she was denied tenure.
Saundra Keyes, editor of the Advertiser, said the newspaper stands by its story.
A 1959 graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, McCubbin resigned from his $350,000 job as the estate's chief executive officer, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. But the move came after several employees alleged that McCubbin was having an improper relationship with a female co-worker.
