A Norwich University professor and the adviser to the student newspaper filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that administrators mounted a “pressure campaign” to suppress stories that reflected poorly on the university.
Shane Graber, a journalism professor and the adviser to The Guidon, Norwich’s student newspaper, alleged in a complaint filed in Washington County Superior Court that the university defamed him, violated his contract and retaliated against him in response to the newspaper’s reporting.
“Norwich breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing by, among other things, interfering with Dr. Graber’s classes and students, attacking and defaming him publicly, suggesting without any basis that he lacks ethical integrity, and attempting to force him to participate in an administrative coup of The Guidon,” Kevin Lumpkin, an attorney with Sheehey Furlong & Behm representing Graber, wrote in the complaint.
The suit is the latest in a series of recent lawsuits alleging improper employment practices at the Northfield military university. And it adds detail about how administrators allegedly sought to suppress The Guidon’s reporting last year before suspending the online newspaper entirely.
“This lawsuit is without merit, and we will defend Norwich University vigorously,” Sarah Stefaniuk, a university spokesperson, said in an emailed statement Monday. “This is essentially a personnel matter involving an individual’s refusal to take direction from their supervisor. The fact is, the Guidon has been publishing again for months now and offering meaningful content and reporting about important Norwich events.”
In January 2024, when former Norwich president Mark Anarumo resigned abruptly, The Guidon began reporting on the story, the complaint reads. Amy Woodbury Tease, chair of the Department of Global Humanities, called and texted Graber to tell him that The Guidon “should not publish” a statement from Anarumo, according to the suit. The paper ultimately did not publish the statement.
The next month, The Guidon began researching a story about a situation in which a Norwich employee was granted a restraining order against another employee, according to the complaint, and Woodbury Tease again urged Graber to kill the story. The Guidon declined to run the story for “independent reasons,” the lawsuit states.
Over the next few months, according to the lawsuit, administrators criticized Graber and The Guidon’s reporting multiple times, including when a story about an alleged sexual assault on campus drew a complaint from Norwich’s chief compliance officer.
“The message was clear: The administration is in charge, so tell your students not to cover stories that make the University look bad,” the suit reads.
In the fall of 2024, Norwich decided to suspend The Guidon outright. After VTDigger reported on the newspaper’s suspension, in October, Norwich administrators reversed course and said they would allow the paper to resume publishing, but with new oversight measures.
The suit alleges that administrators took a series of actions to retaliate against Graber for his work with the paper. Norwich canceled his journalism class and reassigned him to teach an intro-level English class, threatened him with disciplinary action and falsely implied that he was involved in a Title IX case, according to the lawsuit.
Through those alleged actions, the university breached Graber’s contract as well as the school’s faculty manual, and also “intentionally inflicted emotional distress,” the lawsuit alleges. Graber is currently on medical leave related to his mental health, according to the lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.
In a text message, Graber declined to comment, saying the complaint spoke for itself.
