 BOSTON AP - A Harvard University professor charged with hiding his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program sued the Ivy League school on Friday over its refusal to pay his legal defense costs, accusing it of turning its back on a dedicated faculty member. Charles Lieber, who was chair of the department of chemistry and chemical biology, was arrested in January at his office on campus and charged in federal court with lying about his involvement in Chinas Thousand Talents Plan, a program designed to lure people with knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property to China. Liebers attorney, Marc Mukasey, has promised to mount a vigorous defense and has said that when justice is done, Charlies good name will be restored. The lawsuit says Harvard denied Liebers request to advance his defense costs, hasnt agreed to reimburse him at all and is demanding that he essentially prove definitively his innocence to Harvard before his trial to get financial help. Employees who find themselves accused of wrongdoing rely on their employers promises to pay their defense costs, the complaint says. Instead of following suit, and supporting their long-standing, well-respected employee, Harvard has placed Professor Lieber on administrative leave, publicly denounced him, improperly characterized the charges against him, and permanently and falsely associated him with academic espionage, forever harming his reputation, it said. A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit. The university is cooperating with authorities in the criminal case. The lawsuit accuses Harvard of breach of contract and says the schools failure to follow through will leave Lieber, who was diagnosed years ago with a blood cancer, and his family... 