A 2 1/2-year-old sexual harassment suit against the University got a boost yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled that federal sexual harassment law extends to cases when the victim and the harasser are of the same sex. Brian Linson, a 31-year-old former Penn graduate student, accused the University of failing to properly respond to his original complaint against his then-fellow graduate student Kenjiro Matsuda, who Linson claims sexually harassed him during a seven-month period beginning in September 1992. Linson said yesterday he was happy with the decision but not surprised, especially since the justices made no secret of their opinions when lawyers originally argued the case in December. Chief Justice William Rehnquist said then he did not "see how we could possibly sustain" a lower court ruling against Joseph Oncale, the plaintiff who sued for sexual harassment. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals put Linson's case on hold last July pending the Supreme Court's decision in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, but yesterday Linson said that he expects "that the ruling will be in my favor following this decision." Linson, who was studying for a doctorate in linguistics, claims in the suit that Matsuda grabbed his genitals and asked for sexual favors. Penn expelled Linson in 1993, claiming he owed nearly $10,000. Linson, however, claims the move was in retaliation for his accusations. The University has denied all the charges. Yesterday, University officials were unavailable for comment on Linson's case. U.S. District Judge Robert Kelly ruled in favor of the University in August 1996, but Linson appealed the decision five months later after Justice Department officials contacted him and offered to help him pursue the case. Linson had been representing himself. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of a Louisiana oil rig worker who says he was sexually pursued and harassed by his male supervisor and two other men during his four months working on a Gulf of Mexico rig. The high court cited Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an anti-discrimination law. "We see no justification? for a categorical rule excluding same-sex harassment claims from the coverage of Title VII," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the seven-page opinion. In a previous ruling against Oncale, a federal appeals court said the law does not apply to same-sex harassment. Although Title VII does not specifically mention sexual harassment, the Supreme Court ruled in 1986 that it amounts to discrimination if it creates a "hostile environment" in the workplace. If the high court had not ruled for the plaintiff, Linson said, men harassed by other men would have to "resort to vigilante justice." Linson said he wants to return to the University and would settle the suit if they allowed him to come back. "They've taken a person who wanted to come here to learn and they've made me an expellee," he said. Linson added that he is not sure what the next step is in his suit. He said he had not yet spoken with Linda Thome, the Justice Department attorney who is assisting him. Linson -- who is currently working as a research associate with a television analysis firm in Philadelphia -- said his dismissal from Penn is a "permanent blot" on his record. Thome, who works in the Civil Rights Division, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
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