HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Kelly Harvey-Viney, the daughter of former Hampton University President William Harvey, are among the three people suing Hampton University over alleged breach of contract.
Jackson, Harvey-Viney, and the third person, Wilmer J. Leon III, Ph.D., all filed separate lawsuits on Dec. 30 in Hampton Circuit Court. They’ve hired Verbena Askew with The Verbena Askew Law Firm and are all requesting jury trials and monetary damages.
Jackson and Leon are both suing after job offers were rescinded prior to arriving at the university. Leon’s was revoked just before Harvey retired in June, while Jackson’s was taken away in July after Harvey left. Harvey-Viney sued after she says she was told to either take a demotion or be fired after her father’s departure.
Jackson, a former congressman who was sentenced to 30 months in prison back in 2013 for tax evasion after taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from his campaign fund, was notified that his previously offered “Scholar-in-Residence” position was pulled on July 14, 2022, with Hampton Chancellor and Provost JoAnn Haysbert writing that “Hampton University does not currently have the positions of Scholar-in-Residence” and that “the University may only fill positions that are set forth in the Hampton University Faculty, Handbook, 2017.”
Jackson had received a job offer for the position signed by Harvey on June 17, 2022, according to a copy of the contract included with the lawsuit.
He’s asking for $270,000 in damages he says he’s owed as part of the contract, including $120K for the first year and $126K for the second.
Leon, who first reached out to Hampton in April 2021 to say that he wanted to teach political science there, eventually was offered a chairperson and assistant professor position in the university’s political science department. The 9-month position was set to go from August 29, 2022, to May 19, 2023 with a salary of $80,000.
On June 3, 2022, he received a letter of his acceptance of the offer, paperwork shows. In the days that followed a member of Hampton’s Board of Trustees raised concerns over Leon’s comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the lawsuit, Hampton Dean Linda Malone-Cohen said “there is one question that has arisen. A member of the Board of Trustees wants to know your position on Ukraine. You are on record as saying that Putin was right.”
Leon said he was taken out of context, saying: “people make the mistake of discussing Russia’s February military incursion into Ukraine as though it happened in a vacuum. It’s important to understanding the broader historical context of these events. People mistake my analysis and understanding of the context as agreement with the action. You will not find a person walking this planet is more opposed to war than I am. Dr. King told us that was is the enemy of the poor.”
The lawsuit says Harvey had concerns about Leon’s political leanings.
One June 10, Leon’s offer was rescinded by Haybert. He’s now suing for the $80,000 offered in the original contract.
Harvey-Viney meanwhile is suing for $388,000, the rest of the money she says she was owed through her contract ending in 2025. Harvey-Viney, who was originally hired by HU back in 2010 as a legal assistant to the vice president and general counsel, and her latest contract also included the position as Title IX coordinator and the director of Hampton’s Center for Public Policy.
Harvey-Viney says things changed when her father stepped down and new HU President Darryl Williams came aboard. She says she was subject to unnecessary oversight such as phone calls each morning from the office of Faye Hardy-Lucas, the university’s vice president and general counsel, to see if she was at her desk. She says she was also required to provide “leave forms” if she was scheduled to be out of the office, something she says wasn’t required for two employees under Hardy-Lucas’ supervision.
Eventually she says she was given an ultimatum from William’s Chief of Staff Dr. Walter Tillman, to take a teaching position in HU’s journalism school, a demotion, or be fired.
She’s now suing for what she says is a breach of contract.
Hampton University responded to the lawsuits with this statement: “Hampton University does not comment on pending litigation or personnel matters. However, Hampton University will continue to make decisions that are consistent with our values and in the best interest of our faculty, staff and students.”