Two Michigan State University students are suing a professor for making them work for long hours with little or no pay at his personal lab.
The lawsuit, filed by Talal Salem and Salina Ramli in District Court for the Western District of Michigan, alleges engineering professor Parviz Soroushian of exploiting doctoral students at his Lansing lab, Metna Co., according to the Lansing State Journal.
Within the court filings, both students said that Soroushian forced doctoral students to work full-time without giving them any breaks to attend their other classes or to study for exams.
The suit also alleges the University of ignoring Soroushian’s professional misconduct and of not taking timely action against him.
“Soroushian was left to abuse and exploit his students, with no oversight, supervision or intervention, despite MSU’s knowledge of Soroushian’s history of using University students for his personal enrichment,” the lawsuit states.
After receiving multiple anonymous complaints, the university placed Soroushian on paid leave in July 2018 and initiated an investigation into his conduct. The report, submitted in December, uncovered that a “lack of concern” for the health, safety, and welfare of graduate students was demonstrated by the professor.
Meanwhile, Soroushian has denied all allegations leveled against him.
Last month, a School of Pharmacy professor Ashim Mitra, who was earlier accused of mistreating foreign students, was sued for fraudulently stealing and selling a graduate student’s research to a pharmaceutical company, potentially earning him millions of dollars in the future.