Three former Slippery Rock University students are seeking $70,000 each in damages from a former professor in a lawsuit claiming the suit he filed in 2020 against them and other students was frivolous and an abuse of the court system.

Former students Madison Harris, of Georgetown; Aran Bybee, of Lebanon; and Connie Lemke of Joliet, Ill., have filed an abuse of process suit against former computer science professor Yili Tseng of Virginia. The suit was initially filed in Lebanon County, but was transferred in January to Butler County.

SRU is not a party in the suit.

The suit Tseng filed in September 2020 in Butler County Common Pleas Court against Harris, Bybee, Lemke and 14 other unnamed SRU student defendants alleging defamation and conspiracy to defame sought over $800,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, according to the students’ suit.

Harris filed a gender discrimination grievance against Tseng and Bybee provided a witness statement, according to the suit.

Tseng’s suit claimed student evaluations and grievances submitted by the students caused him to be terminated at the end of the 2019-20 school year, the students claim in their suit.

Student evaluations of teachers and professors are included in the employment contract between the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which oversees SRU and 13 other state-owned universities, and the faculty union, according to the suit.

His suit was dismissed in September 2021 in county court and dismissed by state Superior Court in June 2022, and the state Supreme Court denied his petition to file an appeal in March 2023, according to the suit. The students argued they were forced to incur fees and legal costs in their responses to each of Tseng’s petitions.

The three students allege Tseng filed three amended complaints after filing his initial complaint in county court to force them to incur significant legal fees and undergo the stress and strain of a lawsuit.

Each of the three former students is seeking $45,000 in punitive damages, $20,000 in damages for incurred legal fees, and $5,000 for emotional harm and therapy costs, anticipated therapy costs and anticipated support animal costs.

Tseng declined to comment.