Ricardo Salazar-Rey

Introduction

Ricardo Salazar-Rey is a history professor at the University of Connecticut’s Stamford campus who was terminated from the university after an internal investigation found that his personal communications with an undergraduate student constituted sexual harassment and created a hostile educational environment. The firing, documented in a termination letter obtained by NBC Connecticut through public records, came after an April 2026 complaint and despite — or in one sense because of — Salazar-Rey telling a university hearing that he took “full responsibility” for his actions while continuing to dispute the findings. It was the third time he had faced a university investigation over his conduct toward students.

Background Information

Salazar-Rey taught history at UConn’s Stamford campus. This was not his first investigation: in 2019, a student claimed he tried to kiss her without her consent — allegations he denied, though he was placed on leave at the time — and in 2023 he was investigated again and suspended for fifteen days without pay. The pattern of escalating sanction, from leave to suspension to termination, spans seven years. This is an institutional employment case: no criminal charges have been reported.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Fired, not criminally charged. UConn terminated Salazar-Rey’s employment after an internal investigation under university policy. No criminal case has been reported, and the findings are administrative, not judicial.

The final investigation began in April 2026, when a student filed a report with UConn’s Office for Inclusion and Civil Rights (OICR). Documents the student provided included text messages she felt crossed a line and made her uncomfortable; she told investigators she texted with the professor because that was his preferred contact method. Records obtained by NBC Connecticut included more than a dozen screenshots of messages beginning in February that were personal in nature and showed Salazar-Rey explaining his desires for a family and how he wanted it to be with her.

The OICR found that Salazar-Rey “engaged in frequent and sustained communications” with an undergraduate student that “extended beyond academic or course-related topics,” including details of his personal life and sharing music and other digital content. The office determined the communications became “unwelcome” as they grew in frequency and became increasingly personal and romantic in nature, and that the faculty-student power dynamic made the conduct “sufficiently pervasive” to interfere with the student’s educational environment — constituting a hostile environment and sexual harassment. When NBC Connecticut first reported the case on October 9, UConn said Salazar-Rey was on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation and the procedures outlined in the UCONN-AAUP collective bargaining agreement.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The university’s termination letter states that Salazar-Rey was found to have violated UConn’s policies on discrimination, harassment, related interpersonal violence, and the general rules of conduct. At a hearing he took “full responsibility” for his actions but continued to dispute the OICR’s findings — a position the process did not accept. Senior Vice Provost Amy Gorin, who issued the letter, wrote that she agreed with the OICR’s findings, as did Associate Dean Manuela Wagner and Stamford Campus Dean Jennifer Orlikoff, in deciding to terminate his employment.

The records underpinning the termination were obtained by NBC Connecticut through the Freedom of Information Act, and the station’s reporting laid out the full paper trail — the 2019 attempted-kiss claim, the 2023 fifteen-day suspension, and the 2026 firing — giving the public a complete view of a decade-length progression that ended his UConn career.

Current Status

Salazar-Rey’s employment at the Stamford campus has been terminated. As a tenured-faculty dismissal it followed the UCONN-AAUP collective bargaining process, and no grievance or legal challenge by Salazar-Rey had been reported in the coverage. No criminal proceeding exists in this matter; the sanctions are the university’s own. His prior discipline — the 2019 leave and the 2023 suspension — remained part of his record with the university.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The termination ends Salazar-Rey’s academic post at UConn after three investigations in seven years, each escalating: a leave in 2019 after an attempted-kiss allegation he denied, an unpaid fifteen-day suspension in 2023, and finally dismissal after the 2026 harassment findings. A tenured professorship lost to a sexual-harassment finding is among the most severe sanctions a university can impose short of criminal action, and the documented pattern — reported in full through FOIA records — would follow him into any future academic employment. His “full responsibility” statement at the hearing, paired with his continued dispute of the findings, did not alter the outcome agreed by three senior university officials.

Sources

• NBC Connecticut: “UConn professor fired after university investigated allegations between him and a student” source