Former student sues former Whitman professor for sexual abuse

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A lawsuit filed in Onondaga County State Supreme Court Tuesday alleges Theodore Wallin, a former professor at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, sexually abused a student over several months in 1986.

The lawsuit, filed under the New York Adult Survivors Act, alleges Wallin engaged in “unpermitted sexual contact” with the plaintiff in his university-owned office from October to December 1986. The lawsuit also alleges SU failed to investigate Wallin’s past history of sexual conduct, including a “propensity for sexual abuse.”

Wallin was a professor and mentor for the plaintiff, the lawsuit states, and was the faculty advisor to the plaintiff’s fraternity. Wallin also led the supply chain management program at the Whitman school for 27 years.

According to his profile on Sage Publishing, an academic journal, Wallin was a Whitman faculty member for 34 years, and is currently a professor and dean for the School of Business at Sejong University in Seoul.

As of Tuesday, Wallin appears on SU’s directory for emeriti faculty, which honors retired SU faculty members for contributions to the university.

Albany-based law firm LaFave, Wein & Frament filed the case Tuesday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Adult Survivors Act in May 2022. The act provided a one-year window for adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue institutions involved in their abuse. The window began six months after Hochul signed the act and will end this Thursday.