Amanda Nelson’s tenure as athletic director at Husson University began with her being placed on administrative leave.
Husson University announced Monday that it had placed a new employee on administrative leave pending an investigation into a civil lawsuit in California.
The school has not named the employee, but Nelson acknowledged the situation in a Monday phone interview with the Bangor Daily News. She called the allegations in the California civil suit “completely false” and expects to be back at her new job soon.
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. 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. “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.”
A Husson spokesperson said they were unable to comment further given that it is a personnel matter.
“The allegations are completely false, and I’m going to be dropped from the suit within a week,” Nelson said 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.
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 previously announced that she would be starting as the new athletic director on 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,” she said about the timing of the allegations coming to light. “Clearly that was done intentionally, but I am true to my word and my integrity that this is not a concern for me.”