Husson University announced Monday that it had placed a new employee on administrative leave pending an investigation into a civil lawsuit in California.
As reported by the Bangor Daily News, Husson has not named the employee, but Amanda Nelson, a former two-sport athlete at the university who was serving her first day as athletic director, acknowledged the situation in a Monday phone interview with the News. She called the allegations in the California civil suit “completely false” and expects to be back at her new job soon, Matt Junker of the News reported.
Husson University announced Monday that it had placed a new employee on administrative leave pending an investigation into a civil lawsuit in California.
As reported by the Bangor Daily News, Husson has not named the employee, but Amanda Nelson, a former two-sport athlete at the university who was serving her first day as athletic director,  acknowledged the situation in a Monday phone interview with the News. She called the allegations in the California civil suit “completely false” and expects to be back at her new job soon, Matt Junker of the News reported.
The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in December 2024, names Nelson as one of several defendants and accuses her of “negligent hiring, supervision and retention” in her previous role as athletic director at Del Norte High School in San Diego.
The plaintiff in that suit, identified as a former student at Del Norte, alleges that Nelson’s romantic partner asked the student to have sex with him while that partner was involved with the school’s athletic department and football team, Junker reported. The suit claims that the plaintiff reported the incident to Nelson and other administration officials, but nothing was done to keep the accused individual from remaining on campus and around athletic events.
“Husson University is aware of allegations related to a civil lawsuit filed in California that names a newly hired Husson employee as a party. Our university takes allegations of this nature very seriously,” the school said in its statement on Monday, as reported by the Bangor Daily News. “While our employment process includes a background check, it returned no cause for concern in the hiring process. However, given these allegations in a civil lawsuit and following our standard procedure, this individual has been placed on administrative leave pending an independent investigation. We will update you once we have more information.”
“The allegations are completely false, and I’m going to be dropped from the suit within a week,” Nelson told the News on Monday afternoon. “So this is not going to be a thing. I’m not worried about it.”
Nelson thought the timing of these allegations coming to light now was done on purpose to coincide with the start of her new job. “But everybody that knows me knows I have very high character,” she added, per Junker's reporting.
Nelson stressed that “this is not a true thing, none of it” and expects the situation to be resolved quickly.
“It will end soon. And I’m excited for the start here, and being back where I came from,” Nelson said.
Nelson played basketball and softball for Husson and graduated in 1997. She was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 2017. The school had announced that she would become athletic director starting Sunday, June 1.
“The biggest thing for me is I’m just excited to be here. So it’s unfortunate that this situation, they chose to do this today, knowing it was my first day,” Nelson said, as reported by the Bangor Daily News. “Clearly that was done intentionally, but I am true to my word and my integrity that this is not a concern for me.”
