A former residential adviser has filed a tort claim against Boise State University, saying he was wrongfully fired from his job and evicted from campus housing.

M. Trey Gerlach is seeking damages of at least $300,000, according to his May 8 claim against Boise State.

The claim accuses Boise State housing officials of sexual discrimination, possible wage and hour violations and slander — and invokes a high-stakes and high-profile courtroom loss for the university.

“The accusations against BSU bear a striking similarity to the ambush-style approach BSU employed against Sarah Jo Fendley and Big City Coffee,” wrote Gerlach, referring to the First Amendment case Fendley filed against university administrators. An Ada County jury sided with Fendley in 2024, but a $3.6 million settlement and a $1.6 million award of legal fees remain on hold, as Boise State appeals the case to the Idaho Supreme Court.

Boise State declined comment on the claim Tuesday.

Unlike the Big City case, Gerlach’s dispute is not yet in court. A tort claim is a precursor to a possible civil suit.

Writing on his own behalf, Gerlach leveled several allegations against the university.

• Gerlach said he was forced to work additional weekend shifts, beyond his contract as an RA. The added shifts resulted in “possible federal wage and hour violations,” he wrote.
• Gerlach said he assigned additional shifts to ease the workload for a female RA who was “favored” by a university resident director. Gerlach said this is a violation of Title IX, the federal education law that prohibits discrimination based on sex.
• Gerlach said he was not protected from retaliation stemming from a separate Title IX complaint he filed in July 2025.
• After he complained of possible wage and hour violations, Gerlach said he became the target of slanderous and “manufactured” allegations. For instance, he said he was falsely accused of helping underage students obtain alcohol.

Ultimately, Gerlach said he was evicted from university housing with seven days’ notice, during midterms and shortly before the 2025 Thanksgiving break.

“What was my dream job with BSU has turned into an inescapable nightmare,” Gerlach wrote in a Nov. 23 memo to Tiffany Widman, a senior employee relations specialist at Boise State.

“The university is aware of the claim, but we do not comment on pending legal matters,” Boise State spokeswoman Stephany Galbreaith said in an email Tuesday.