Page 6 The Behrend Beacon Student, of Miami for harassment by Jay Weaverb Knight Ridder Newspapers Nicole Pytel says she grew up idolizing the Uni versity of Miami and its Hurricanes football teams. Her father, Lewis, quarterbacked the Canes in the late 19605. A year and a half ago, she entered UM and earned a spot as an assistant equipment man ager - an athletic scholarship that helped pay her $22,000 tuition. The dream, she says, is over. Pytel is suing the school, alleging sexual dis crimination and harassment on the job after UM administrators removed her less than one last February hour after Pvtel filed a com- plaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "By the end of the season, it was just more than I could take," said Pytel, 19, of Weston, Fla., who entered UM in August 2000. “Something had to be done.” UM spokeswoman Sarah Artecona declined com ment, citing school policy. She also said UM would not disclose its internal review of Pytel’s initial complaint last January. In September, the EEOC issued Pytel a “right to sue” letter but did not reach any conclusions about her claims that she endured “inquisitions” about her sex life and body parts by the male assistants and her supervisor. “Based upon its investigation, the EEOC is un able to conclude that the information obtained es tablishes violations of the statutes,” the EEOC’s Miami district office wrote Sept. 13. So Pytel sued Dec. 11 in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. She claims male equipment managers either harassed her by commenting on her breast size, tell ing her to wear thong panties or following her around the practice field simulating sex acts. Pytel claims the team’s equipment manager, Bobby Revilla, who supervised Pytel, encouraged the offensive behavior during a Rutgers road trip Sept. 29, 2000. In the suit, she claims Revilla said Large 14-inch cheese 19, sues University “Pytel is suing the school, alleging sexual discrimination and harassment on the job ” pizza & two bottles of in front of the staff: “Maybe if we get you to drink something, you will tell us about what you and (your boyfriend) have done in bed.” Revilla told The Miami Herald that UM’s legal counsel advised him not to comment. In the suit, Pytel said that after she complained to UM officials last January, she received two anonymous phone calls to her apartment threaten ing her with retaliation when she returned for train ing camp last spring. A month later, on Feb. 23, the university removed Pytel from her job, saying it was for her own safety, according to the suit. The other female assistant manager, Lisa Klein, did not lodge a com plaint with the school. She could not be reached for study job in the com munications depart ment, but Pytel said it paid considerably less than her assistant manager post. The football job paid her $2,500 last year and would have increased to $5,000 this year, she said. “It was illegal for them to remove her for retalia tion, said her attorney, Donna Ballman. Lewis Pytel, who helped his daughter get her UM job, called the school’s handling of the case “a very big disappointment.” “She was afraid of losing her job if she com plained. And when she did, that's exactly what hap pened,” said Pytel, a UM quarterback in 1968 and 1969. Nicole Pytel, a broadcast and psychology major, said being on the sidelines this year during the Hur ricanes’ stellar season is hard. Currently, she hosts a student TV program on sports but had no desire to go to the Rose Bowl on Thursday when top-ranked UM meets Nebraska for the national championship. “I don’t want to think it’s football season, it’s too painful to watch,” she said. Behrend College Special! NATIONAL CAMPUS NEWS Friday, February 1, 2002 comment. UM officials tried to find Pytel a work- Summer Undergraduate Research Program • Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics , • Cell Biology and Molecular Physiology • Cellular and Molecular Pathology • Immunology • Molecular Virology and Microbiology Program description and application available at: 20 oz. pop INTERESTED IN RESEARCH IN THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES? University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Biomedical Graduate Studies Choose From Five Programs! Independent project in a faculty lab will expose rising juniors and seniors to graduate school life! $3500 stipend for 10-week program. Applications due March 1,2002. ://www. Contact: Maria Dunn (412) 648-9003 or mdunn @ medschool.pitt.edu $6.99.- Free Delivery! 897-1818 Guy Reschenthaler, Wire Service Edi radbiomed. Questions? ltt.edu
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