Former University Professor and hurricane expert Ivor van Heerden is planning a lawsuit against the University that alleges he was wrongfully terminated and harassed by University officials.A press release from a civil rights and employment law firm representing van Heerden said the lawsuit will claim van Heerden was wrongfully terminated for his criticisms of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following levee failures during Hurricane Katrina.Van Heerden’s contract as a research professor was not renewed last year.The suit will claim University officials manipulated policies and procedures governing faculty appointments to terminate van Heerden. The suit also claims University officials took part in a “campaign of harassment” against van Heerden.Van Heerden said Tuesday the forms of harassment included removing his right to teach and denying contractual obligations.Van Heerden and his attorneys will discuss the allegations today at a news conference in New Orleans.”According to what I was told, the administration was upset because they felt my research on why the levees failed in Hurricane Katrina was hurting the University’s ability to secure federal dollars,” van Herdeen said.Van Heerden told The Daily Reveille on April 14, 2009, University officials informed him his termination had nothing to do with budget cuts.Van Heerden also said University officials told him he would be fired if he agreed to be the expert witness for a $600 billion lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.—-Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]