Muhammad Ashraf, a tenured professor who served at the University of Cincinnati's medical school for 35 years has filed a lawsuit against the school for violating his constitutional rights by firing him after he withdrew his resignation.
Earlier, Ashraf wanted to rescind his July 5 resignation from the school because the authorities were not willing to transfer a lot of money in federal grants from the National Institute of Health to his next job at Georgia Regents University.
The university officials alleged that Ashraf wanted to leave because they initiated an academic misconduct investigation against him.
Ashraf's tenure at the school ended Thursday, the date he mentioned as his last day on his resignation papers.
Mark Mezivob, Ashraf's attorney, claimed that his client's resignation was invalid because the dean of the university's medical school didn't have the formal right to accept Ashraf's resignation.
Doreen Canton, representing the university, argued that Ashraf submitted his resignation appropriately.
"He quit. He removed himself," Canton said, adding that the dean had every authority to accept it. "If anybody was underhanded in this matter, it was Dr. Ashraf."
Mezivob said that Ashraf has now lost his job and grants.
"Dr. Ashraf is aware of no one ... at the university who has the qualification, the know-how, to effectively and meaningfully take over these grants," Mezivob said. "He's the one who got the grants. He's the one who impressed the NIH with the prospects of success and the importance of these endeavors. No one else did that."
However, the university officials state that, other staff members who are qualified to continue the research will be funded by the grants Ashraf has been claiming. They also said that if he comes back to the laboratory, it "will lead to confusion as to who is directing the staff" and "will cause irreparable damage to the research environment."
