NH judge refuses to dismiss poetry program lawsuit

CONCORD (AP) – A federal judge says New England College in Henniker, N.H., may proceed with its lawsuit accusing a poet of stealing one of its master’s programs and its faculty and recreating it at a rival school in New Jersey.

New England College is suing Anne Marie Macari – the former director of its low-residency Master’s of Fine Arts in Poetry program – and Drew University, where Macari now directs a similar program.

Drew University asked U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Laplante to either dismiss the case or move it to New Jersey. Laplante denied both motions. The judge says even though no one from Drew ever came to New Hampshire, Macari was acting on Drew’s behalf and the school authorized or at least knew about her actions in New Hampshire.