Two VCU leaders have asked a federal court to throw out a recent lawsuit filed by former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder, arguing the school had a legal obligation to look into workplace complaints at the public affairs school that bears Wilder’s name.

Lawyers representing VCU President Michael Rao and Chief Audit and Compliance Executive Suzanne Milton filed their response Monday to the civil lawsuit Wilder filed against them earlier this month.

Wilder — who served as Richmond’s first mayor elected under the strong mayor system adopted in 2004 — claims he was unfairly targeted and maligned when VCU hired an outside law firm to look into complaints related to the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, where he has the title of distinguished professor. 

Wilder might not like being asked to participate in a “routine inquiry” into workplace issues, lawyers for the VCU officials argued in their response, but that doesn’t mean his rights were violated.

“The investigation was done ‘by the book,’ so to speak, without exception,” Rao and Milton’s attorneys wrote in the response, which says VCU has taken no official action against Wilder as a result of the investigation. 

The two university officials are being represented by a team of lawyers from the Williams Mullen firm.

Wilder’s role as an influential political figure attached to the school appears to be a focus of the investigation. However, the exact scope of the probe is unclear.

The new legal filing says the investigation is about claims of “a threatening environment” at the Wilder School, including allegations Wilder himself made “threats” against co-workers. The investigation also involves allegations about the conduct of an unnamed Wilder School dean, according to the filing, as well as claims Wilder misused school property and had an “improper” level of involvement in school personnel decisions.

The Wilder School was thrust into the spotlight this spring after former instructor and advisor Bill Leighty was abruptly terminated from his role at the school a few days after he moderated an online question-and-answer session with current Richmond Mayor Danny Avula. 

Leighty, a government expert and author who previously served as chief of staff to former Virginia Govs. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, believes he was fired for refusing to ask Avula a hard-hitting question that came from Wilder. 

Leighty publicly accused his former employer of allowing Wilder to use the Wilder School as a platform for his disputes with other public figures. Wilder and the Wilder School haven’t responded to Leighty’s assertion, but the dustup appeared to inspire additional complaints about the work environment.

VCU hired the Husch Blackwell law firm to conduct a “factual investigation” into two complaints, according to a copy of the May 7 contract obtained by The Richmonder. The contract clarifies that the law firm won’t be providing legal advice, but will instead produce a “report that details relevant facts” to help the university assess “whether any VCU policies or procedures were violated.”

It’s not clear if that report has been completed, but The Richmonder has asked VCU for a copy whenever it’s finalized. University officials have not said if they intend to release the report publicly. The university has described the process as a “confidential investigation,” but the contract with the law firm states that documents related to the investigation could potentially fall under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act because the firm isn’t providing legal advice to a client.

The former governor alleges he is being unfairly retaliated against for his well-documented criticism of Rao and VCU leadership. Specifically, Wilder has taken aim at VCU leaders over a costly downtown development deal that fell apart and didn’t deliver promised financial benefits to Richmond.

Wilder accused the VCU officials of violating his rights to free speech and due process. He also alleges Rao and Milton defamed him and subjected him to unlawful retaliation.

The lawyers for Rao and Milton contend that, as public officials being sued in their personal capacities, they are immune from being sued over a workplace investigation at a public university. Because “numerous laws” require public employers to investigate workplace complaints, they argue, VCU could also face legal trouble if it had chosen to do nothing in response to “good faith complaints” by Wilder’s co-workers.

“If Defendants are not protected by qualified immunity, government employees everywhere would have carte blanche to commit all sorts of misdeeds without critical oversight by their employers, who will fear liability for investigating those acts and omissions,” the defendants’ attorneys wrote.

The response from the VCU officials also stresses that the Wilder School investigation probably “would not have become public knowledge” if Wilder hadn’t sued over it.

Though Wilder has raised concerns about not having the full nature of the complaints explained to him, the university officials’ response notes that confidentiality and privacy are “utmost concerns” in internal investigations. Explaining the broad “contours” of the investigation to Wilder and giving him a chance to have his say, the response says, is “all that is required for procedural due process.”

“Plaintiff may have been inconvenienced by having to speak to the independent investigators VCU hired regarding alleged workplace misconduct, but there are no allegations the Plaintiff himself was, in any way, deterred from speaking out against VCU or its employment practices,” Rao and Milton’s lawyers wrote. “Indeed, this lawsuit shows the opposite: Plaintiff is ready, willing, and able to publicly spar with VCU and its leadership.”

A judge has not yet ruled on the motion to dismiss the lawsuit. No hearings have been scheduled in the case.

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org. (VCU is a sponsor of The Richmonder, but did not influence or review this story.)