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EXCLUSIVE: Emails obtained by PK Press Club Digital show a former Yale University administrator telling the attorney for former Yale strength and conditioning coach Thomas Newman that he was recorded in a meeting.
Other emails show Newman’s attorney claiming that Connecticut law requires both parties to consent to being recorded during telecommunications, which is current state law, and that the recordings were allegedly used against him by higher-level administrators.
“A former employee recorded part of a meeting with your client, without the knowledge of the university,” read an email sent to Newman’s attorney, Alan Granovsky, from a Yale assistant general counsel, who no longer works at the university.
The attorney’s email was sent in response to a letter dated August 13, 2025 with the subject line “Ongoing reputational harm and inaccuracies regarding Thomas Newman.”
The attorney’s email also included the following lines: “The University has not made any defamatory statements to anyone regarding your client” and “The University has not inappropriately disclosed any medical information, nor has the University stated that your client left the University involuntarily or is under investigation.” »
The lawyer retired last January, the person’s LinkedIn page shows. Newman resigned from his position in early 2021.
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More than 54,000 people fill the Yale Bowl for the second half of the 141st game of “The Game” between the Yale Bulldogs and the Harvard Crimson on November 22, 2025 in New Haven, Connecticut. (Sean D. Elliot/Getty Images)
Newman’s attorneys at Granovsky & Sundaresh Employment Law sent several emails to Yale regarding the issue and Newman’s permanent departure from the university in 2021, which were provided by a PK Press Club Digital source.
Newman confirmed to PK Press Club Digital that the emails were exchanged between the university and its lawyers, but declined further comment.
An October 10 email sent by Granovsky to the attorney includes the following allegations:
“You now acknowledge that a former employee recorded part of a meeting with Mr. Newman,” part of the email reads, later clarifying: “Although they knew the recording was not authorized, the parties involved, particularly [Executive Deputy Director/Chief Operating Officer of Athletics] Ann-Marie Guglieri and [Athletic Director] Vicky Chun attempted to use the recording for disciplinary purposes.
“Despite my client’s repeated formal requests for a copy or transcript of this recording, Ms. Guglieri and Chun refused to provide it, thereby preventing any opportunity to verify the alleged content or context. And yet, they still used the ‘recordings’ as a pretext to undermine Mr. Newman’s leadership and credibility and ultimately expel him.”
A November 17 email sent by Granovsky to the attorney includes the following allegations:
“Legal violations implied by Yale’s conduct. Clandestine recording/consent of all parties. The audio you provided appears to be a compilation of segments from staff Zoom calls including several employees and interns (some not Yale students).
“Connecticut law requires the consent of all parties to record private telephone communications and creates a civil cause of action for nonconsensual recording (CGS § 52-570d) and criminalizes eavesdropping and mechanical eavesdropping (CGS § 53a-189).
“If any portion was captured by Zoom phone/audio without the consent of all participants, civil and criminal exposure is at stake. Yale’s use and retention of such a recording aggravates the violation.
“Yale’s Professional Conduct and Recording Policies (Policy 9001) prohibit surreptitious recording of meetings/classes by community members and guests. Maintaining and using such a recording to affect employment outcomes is, on its face, a violation of policy, regardless of who pressed “record.”
No current or former Yale University administrator has been officially involved in any illegal activity.
Under Connecticut General Statutes § 52-570d, it is unlawful for any person to record a private conversation without informing and obtaining the consent of all parties involved.
UNIVERSITY HEAD ADMITS SCHOOLS ARE “NOT A POLITICAL PARTY” TO WARN ELITE CAMPUSES
Newman voluntarily left the university in March 2021, after five years leading the Yale Athletics strength and conditioning team.
A former Yale football player, who spoke to PK Press Club Digital on condition of anonymity, says that under the staff that took over after Newman left, he suffered multiple injuries amid changes in routine.
The former player said that, unlike Newman’s program, the new program had him working out shortly after taking a fitness test, and that no Gatorade was available that day, and that he subsequently suffered cramps so severe that he ended up in the hospital for three days.
The player claimed to have suffered several injuries during the season, linked to these cramps.
On Monday, PK Press Club Digital published a letter signed by a former Yale ice hockey coach Keith Allain, addressed to Yale President Maurine McInnis. In the letter, Allain claimed that other Yale coaches urged him to report Chun to McInnis after he retired.
“I am writing to you at the request of several head coaches in our athletic department. They have told me that you are seeking feedback from a few coaches regarding our athletic director’s contract extension and that you are concerned that with the culture of fear that permeates the athletic department, you will not receive candid feedback,” the letter begins.
Allain went on to call Chun “the worst leader” he has ever been around and allege that she prioritized “silencing all dissent.”
“As a Yale alumnus and someone with great affection for our university and the role of athletics within the greater Yale community, I felt compelled to write to you as my former colleagues have asked me to do so. Vicky Chun is the worst leader I have ever been around in my life,” he wrote.
“She is dishonest, self-centered and inaccessible. Vicky’s singular talent is self-promotion and has created a toxic environment within the department where she is isolated by a cadre of administrators whose main job seems to be to silence all dissent.”
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Head coach Keith Allain of the United States during practice before the 2011 IIHF U20 World Championship match between the United States and Finland on December 26, 2010 at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
A source provided the letter to PK Press Club Digital. Allain later confirmed to PK Press Club Digital that he wrote the letter and sent it to McInnis in October, shortly after he retired after 19 years as head of Yale hockey. Allain declined further comment.
PK Press Club Digital has reached out to the president’s office and the Yale athletic department for a response.
