Michigan State was aware an engineering professor exploited his students and forced them to work long hours with little pay at his personal lab, according to a report from the Lansing State Journal.

MSU officials have known about allegations against Professor Parviz Soroushian since 2011 but didn't take any action to monitor the students working for him, a lawsuit filed March 22 in federal court alleges.

The lawsuit alleges Soroushian refused to let students take time off to study for their exams, required students to work full-time with very little pay and forced them to do mentally and physically draining work at his lab, Metna Co. Students felt they had no other options because their doctoral success was dependent on Soroushian.

When two students went to the MSU Department of Engineering's Chair Venkatesh Kodur to address Soroushian's treatment, Kodur didn't investigate the complaints or intervene in any way, the lawsuit said.

The dean of the College of Engineering initiated an investigation into Soroushian in July 2018. The report against Soroushian was sent to MSU for review in December 2018 and found that there was a culture of disregard within the Department of Engineering and lack of concern for the health and safety of the graduate students working with Soroushian.

Kodur told investigators he didn't feel it was his job to go to Soroushian's company to check on students, the lawsuit said.

However, the lawsuit claims MSU addressed these allegations with Soroushian in 2011.

MSU and Soroushian allegedly agreed to a plan that would prohibit Soroushian from serving as the chairperson of any thesis or dissertation committee for any students who worked for him and would require him to disclose his relationship with Metna to students.

MSU Spokesperson Heather Young and MSU Communications and Brand Strategy did not respond to request for comment at the time of publication.

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