An adult college student entered into a written, one-year lease of a condominium unit owned by a professor who was taking a one-year sabbatical in France. The lease, which began on September 1, called for a yearly rent of $12,000 to be paid in monthly installments of $1,000. The student lived in the unit for four months and paid rent to the professor for each of those four months. The student moved out of the unit in late December and has not made any rental payments since then. In a signed note, the student transferred all of his rights under the lease for the remaining eight months to an employee of the college. Nothing in the lease prohibited the student from making this transfer. The employee moved into the unit on January 1. She lived there for five months and mailed the $1,000 monthly payments for those five months to the professor in France, but otherwise had no contact with the professor. At the end of May, the employee moved out and has not made any further rental payments. Despite making a good faith effort through friends at the college, the professor was unable to find anyone to rent the condominium unit for the remaining three months of the lease. Under the terms of the lease, the student is liable to the professor for any unpaid rent. However, upon his return from France in September, the professor sued the employee for the unpaid rent of $3,000.
Is the employee liable to the professor for the unpaid rent?