Nun gets community service in $850,000 Iona College embezzlement case

A nun who stole more than $850,000 from Iona College to fund a gambling addiction while she was in charge of the school's finances was spared incarceration and ordered to perform 2,000 hours of community service.

At her sentencing in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, Sister Marie Thornton, 63, said she was deeply sorry for her crime and for the embarrassment she caused her religious order, family and friends.

"Somehow the words 'I'm sorry' fall short," she told U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood. "They don't convey the gut-wrenching sorrow I feel all day, every day."

She said she was particularly pained to have harmed "the institution I loved ... and gave my all to."

Thornton was fired as vice president of finance in 2009 when school officials learned of the crime.

But they never contacted law enforcement. The federal probe was launched after the U.S. Department of Education was tipped off when the school revealed the missing money — without naming Thornton — in its tax filings last year.

Thornton stole the money over a 10-year period by using a school credit card for personal expenses and getting reimbursed by the school with phony invoices.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Cohen said Thornton had also forged the signature of her longtime boss, school President James Liguori, to get cash payments. The prosecutor said the theft was uncovered by an employee who realized that a fax number on a vendor's invoice was a number at the college.

Sentencing guidelines called for a prison term of 2 1/2 to 3 years. Cohen argued for some incarceration, calling Thornton's crime an "ongoing, systematic, very extensive fraud," and said that not sending her to prison sent the wrong message to the public.

The judge, however, said it appeared Thornton had been rehabilitated through extensive treatment for her addiction and that she has already been punished enough by the strict oversight she must endure from her religious order in Philadelphia, the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Wood suggested that Thornton was kept in solitary confinement and had been shunned.

But Sister Connie Trainor, a nun from the order who accompanied Thornton to New York, raised her hand and asked to speak. She said Thornton was not kept alone. The defendant had not been shunned, but "in her own shame she has chosen to withdraw," Trainor said.

Trainor said she interrupted to set the record straight.

"I didn't want it to sound like the 1500s," she said.

Defense lawyer Sanford Talkin said Thornton had come clean about her crime once caught and immediately sought treatment for gambling. Among the letters he submitted to Wood on behalf of her were some from former students and from people who had been in treatment with her.

A difficult childhood was alluded to but no details were given.

Talkin said Thornton had become addicted to gambling for "deep-rooted reasons" that had nothing to do with having money or buying expensive things. It helped her "stop the suffering," Talkin said, and gave her a feeling of freedom. "It (was) about her for a change," he said.

Thornton was arrested a year ago and pleaded guilty in March.

Her sentencing was postponed several times at the defense's request, including twice for medical reasons as she had cataract surgery and a double-hip replacement over the summer.

Thornton was Liguori's assistant during the 1990s before her promotion to the school's top financial position.

Iona officials have insisted that safeguards were put in place once the theft was discovered to prevent similar occurrences. The college recovered $500,000 through its insurance.

Wood ordered Thornton to repay the balance of what she took, but there was little chance she could reach $350,000. Cohen said Iona was not interested in further repayment.

When Wood asked whether that was out of sorrow and pity for the defendant, Cohen said it was.

Talkin said Iona is a religious institution that believes in mercy and was "practicing what it preaches."

The community service will be part of three years of supervised release. Wood said it should make use of Thornton's talent as an educator.

But it remained to be seen what her superiors in Philadelphia, who have so far barred Thornton from returning to work, would allow her to do.

Talkin said her ideal community service would be returning to the New Rochelle college.

"She would love to serve the Iona community, but I don't think that's very practical," he said.

Ex-Iona Coach Alleges Racism, Calls Out Alma Mater Over Firing

Jeff Ruland spent nine seasons at Iona as coach. It was also where he spent his collegiate days playing ball. Things hit something of a high point in the 2005-06 season when the team went 23-8. They were even one of those trendy upset picks in the first round, but it wasn't to be. The team lost to LSU.

One season later, Ruland's team went 2-28 and he was shown the door with an overall record of 139-135. He'd won 20 games three times and was one season removed from an NCAA Tournament appearance, but he was off to coach in the NBDL and then as an assistant with the Sixers. On the surface it appears to be a pretty simple story, but Ruland absolutely aired out Iona today on WFAN with Mike Francesa. Ruland alleges racism on the part of some at Iona, talked about contract promises that were never met and also discussed the manner in which he was actually let go.

First, let's get to the biggest part of this interview (you can listen to it here) and that's the allegation that race led to Ruland's firing. Now you might be wondering how that's the case when Ruland is white, the Iona president, James A. Liguori, is white, and the athletic director at the time, Shawn Brennan, is also white. Ruland explained:

At that time, my marriage had fallen apart in 2001 and I had separated legally from my wife. About six months later I started dating a lady I'm with today and she happens to be Afro-American. I noticed a change right then how people treated me.

This could absolutely be the case. Perhaps someone was uncomfortable with an interracial couple like Ruland's. But let's add some context here. Ruland had a pretty bad run in the early '00s. 13-17 in 2001-02, 17-12 in 2002-03, 11-18 in 2003-04. And then this happened, once again quoting Ruland:

2004, [I was] called in and [they told me] they're going to fire my whole staff. I told them that if you do this, you're going to ruin my program. We have players in the program. We've probably got a chance to win one more championship, but when they graduate the cupboard is going to be bare. People are going to use this against us, and I honestly believed one of my assistants might file a discrimination suit. One did. He settled it for half a million dollars. I don't know how many people know that, but that's a fact.

The assistant coach Ruland references in this story is Craig Holcomb. No settlement numbers were ever really made public, as far as I can tell. So to answer Ruland's rhetorical question about how many people knew, the answer would be "not many."

The other charges would be scandalous on their own, but probably fall short of the bar set by the alleged racism within the department. Ruland claims he was notified of his firing via e-mail while he was on a cruise. Ruland also alleges that people around the Iona program continue to badmouth the coach to prospective employers. He claims this was the case both with the Knicks and Donnie Walsh and also at NJIT. In case you're wondering, Ruland is at Division II University of the District of Columbia for now.

Ruland said he'd take a lie detector test and put up $100,000 against anyone who says he's lying and when asked how Iona president James A. Liguori would respond to Ruland airing out this information, he dropped this gem: "He's probably up on a roof with a gun right now looking for me, I don't know." That doesn't sound very Christian for a man with this picture on Iona's website, does it?

Court Finds Credence in Ex-Coach's Racial Bias Charge

A federal appeals court on Tuesday required Iona College to defend itself against charges that it had discriminated against a former men's basketball coach in 2004 by firing him, in part, because he was married to a black woman. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, overturning a lower court's judgment two years ago, ruled that Craig Holcomb, who is white, had provided "sufficient evidence to permit a reasonable jury to conclude that the college's decision to terminate [him] was based, at least in part, upon a racially discriminatory motive."

In a statement, Iona officials strongly disputed the court's finding that race may have played a factor in Holcomb's firing. "Iona College has reviewed the determination of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and is extremely perplexed by this decision, in that it conflicts and is inconsistent with decisions of other courts, and is not supported by the evidence produced for the record in this case. Diversity is one of the tenets upon which Iona's foundation and history is built and, therefore, the college is firm in its resolve to vigorously defend itself in this case, as it has in the past, and is confident that it will prevail."

The decision to dismiss Holcomb was made in a context that ultimately confronts most institutions with sports teams: how best to turn around a losing program. Its men's basketball program, long successful, had in the early part of this decade suffered several years of losing and a rash of off-court problems, too. As described in the court's ruling, the university's leaders -- its president and vice presidents, advised by those overseeing the sports program -- decided that "drastic action" was needed to turn the program around, and that changes in personnel were required.

(The athletics director, Shawn Brennan, and his boss, Vice President Richard Petriccione, had initially argued against dismissing any of the coaches, but the senior officials decided otherwise.) Iona chose not to fire the head coach, Jeff Ruland, largely because he had just signed a 10-year contract (making him the college's highest paid employee) and would therefore be expensive to dismiss. Instead, the college fired two of its three assistant coaches, and it was that decision that prompted the lawsuit.

The result was clear: Iona fired its one black assistant coach and Holcomb, who is white but is married to a black woman, and retained another white assistant, Rob O'Driscoll. But the rationale for the decision is disputed, and is at the core of Holcomb's lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (The black assistant coach who was fired, Tony Chiles, did not sue.)

The college's explanation, as laid out in the court records and in the appeals court's decision, is that O'Driscoll was asked to stay "as a connection to the rest of the program and also because the athletics director thought he was doing an adequate job," as Iona's president, the Rev. James Liguori, told the court. Holcomb and Chiles were selected for dismissal, Brennan told Ruland at the time, because they "have not provided you the proper level of support that you and our basketball program need to be successful."

But at the lower court level and before the three-judge appeals panel, Holcomb offered evidence suggesting other reasons. At the summary judgment stage of a lawsuit, where this one stands, federal courts base their rulings on the reading of the presented evidence that is most favorable to the plaintiff (Holcomb). Using that standard, the court, in a unanimous opinion written by Judge Guido Calabresi, decided that Holcomb had submitted sufficient evidence to "permit a reasonable jury" to conclude that Iona had discriminated against him because of his marriage to a black woman.

It cited several reasons for reaching that conclusion. Although the court found that Iona had offered a "non-discriminatory explanation" for firing Holcomb and Chiles and not O'Driscoll, the appeals panel said that Holcomb was not obliged to prove that he was terminated "solely because his wife was black... [H]e needs only to prove that the decision was partly so motivated to prevail on the ultimate merits of his claim."

The ex-coach provided enough evidence to give the jury in an eventual trial a reasonable chance of siding with him. Specifically, the court ruled, a reasonable jury could conclude that both Brennan and Petriccione, the vice president for advancement and external affairs, "possessed a racial motive to discriminate against Holcomb." The court describes Petriccione as being "apparently in the habit of making racially questionable remarks," having allegedly referred to a Nigerian employee in alumni giving as a "jungle bunny" and "African princess," and as having made a "strikingly racial remark to Holcomb about him and his wife." Holcomb testified -- and the court said that a third party confirmed -- that Petriccione had expressed surprise that Holcomb was "really going to marry that Aunt Jemima," and followed that by saying, "You really are a nigger lover." Petriccione did not respond to an e-mail request for comment, but in past articles about the case, he has vigorously denied making those statements.

Holcomb testified that Brennan had stopped letting local high school players, and Holcomb's wife, from attending post-game gatherings of an athletics department fund raising group. The university asserted that Brennan had barred the players (most of whom, in Iona's locale north of New York City, are black) after one event in late 2003 when their number included a potential recruit, fearing that the student's presence violated NCAA recruiting rules. Holcomb said that Brennan had also told him that his wife should stop attending the events, and that as with the high school players, he believed Brennan wanted to limit the number of black people at events involving Iona's mostly white alumni. The court said that Brennan had denied discouraging Holcomb's wife from attending the events.

The appeals court also said Holcomb had provided adequate evidence that Brennan and/or Petriccione had played a "meaningful role" in the decision to fire Holcomb, even though Iona asserted that Brother Liguori, the president, had actually decided to dismiss him and Chiles rather than O'Driscoll. Although the two men had initially opposed firing any of the coaches, the appeals panel noted, Petriccione was among the vice presidents who joined with Brother Liguori in making the final decision to fire Holcomb, and Brennan had told the president that he would keep O'Driscoll if only one could be retained.

The judges dismissed as inconsequential the fact that Ruland, the head coach, also was dating a black woman at the time, and that one of the three new assistant coaches hired to replace those who were dismissed (and O'Driscoll, who left for another job even though he had not been fired) was black.

"A jury might count this as evidence that the defendant did not base its termination decision on the fact that Holcomb's wife was African American," the appeals court's decision said. "Then again, a reasonable fact finder might determine that the college hired a black coach as a way of concealing its prior discrimination. Alternatively, the jury might conclude that the relevant actors were animated, not by racism per se, but instead solely by their disapproval of interracial relationships.... In each of these cases, a reasonable jury could find that the termination decision was motivated, at least in part, by the fact that Holcomb was married to a black woman."

Bottom line, the court suggested, there is enough smoke in Holcomb's charges to let a jury decide if they indicate fire.

Jeffrey Udell, a lawyer for Holcomb, who is now a physical education teacher in Westchester County, where Iona is located, said the former coach was gratified by the appeals court's decision.

Jury should hear coach's claims he was fired for interracial marriage: Court BY DAILY NEWS STAFF DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Wednesday, April 02, 2008

A white former Iona College hoops coach scored big Tuesday in his two-year battle to prove he was fired because his wife is black.

The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a jury should hear Craig Holcomb's claims that top-ranking officials at the Westchester school allowed racists to oust him from his job as top assistant to axed Iona basketball coach Jeff Ruland.

The court said a lower-court judge was wrong to toss out Holcomb's discrimination claim and sent the case back to trial.

Will Iona's New Dormitory Plans Become a Nightmare for the Neighborhoods

Iona College is committed to building more dormitory type housing for students. Last year they set forth a new plan which stressed the need for "mutually beneficial action" for both the City of New Rochelle and Iona College. This non-binding agreement was planned to benefit both parties. But, what has happened is not what was promised. A Committee was formed which was supposed to make a plan for student housing for Iona. The Committee's suggested time frame of May 15, 2012 for adoption of the report was never met.
Instead the New Rochelle City Council at their July meeting approved a resolution which will allow Iona to continue to house 850 students in their North Avenue Dormitory instead of the 700 allowed under the present New Rochelle zoning. The unanimous vote of the Council disappointed many people, especially residents living close to the Iona Campus. At the public hearing which preceded the vote of Council, residents, especially those living near Hubert and President Streets, were especially concerned about another Iona proposal to convert 15 houses on these streets to mini-dormitories, each housing 10-12 students. Occupancy rates in New Rochelle allow only three unrelated people in a dwelling according to Greg Varian, Esq., who stated overcrowding would impact the Halcyon Park neighborhood in a negative way. Under these conditions he asked why a five year extension should be granted.
Bob McCaffrey, President of the Mount Joy Neighborhood Association, cautioned that the report which was being prepared by the Committee formed last year (consisting of Iona and New Rochelle Officials and neighborhood members) is not "a Master Plan for Iona." Councilman Jared Rice who is a member of the Committee remained concerned about quality of life issues for the surrounding neighborhoods. He stated, "The vote isn't to grant Iona a five year occupancy extension. Rather it is to allow them the extension provided that a final report is adopted by the planning committee comprised of five representatives from Iona, two City personnel members, and most importantly, five neighborhood representatives....More time is needed to realize this option, hence the committee needs more time to work."
However, even with these limitations, there are some residents who do not agree that the City Council's actions are adequate to deal with their concerns. Joyce Furfero, Co-Chair of the the Confederation of Neighborhood Associations related, "As long as Iona was willing to be a sleepy little commuter college in a sleepy little suburban city, it co-existed very nicely with its surrounding neighbors in its surrounding neighborhoods. When Iona decided to expand and increased acceptance of out-of-area students, without consideration of their housing needs, the out-of -town students along with the growing number of commuter students who need parking, became a big burden on local homeowners (e.g. noise, litter, rowdiness, overcrowding of residences in violation of the New Rochelle Municipal Code)" Further she feels the current plans "are a nightmare for people living in the Mt; Joy, White Oak, Hilltop, Eastchester, Halcyon Park and Sunset View Park and some of Beechmont and Rochelle Heights neighborhoods."
Obviously, any middle ground for Iona's development will be hard for the Committee to establish. For now, many residents are waiting and hoping for a favorable outcome.

Gael Storm: Assistant's Suit Against Iona

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Craig Holcomb was hired as an assistant men’s basketball coach by Iona College in 1995.  Holcomb, who had coached at Spartanburg Methodist Junior College in South Carolina, was hired by former Iona head coach Tim Welsh.  Welsh’s hiring of Holcomb was approved by Iona’s Director of Athletics, Richard Petriccione.  Holcomb’s specific duties were overseeing practices, maintaining team discipline and training, and recruiting players from local high schools and junior colleges. 

In 1998, Welsh left Iona to become head men’s basketball coach at Providence College, and another Iona assistant coach, Jeff Ruland, was promoted to head coach.  Ruland and Petriccione immediately promoted Holcomb to the position of “Associate Head Coach,” but left his responsibilities largely unchanged. 

Iona’s first three years under Ruland were highly successful.  Iona won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournament in 2000 and 2001—thereby earning berths in the NCAA tournament—and won the MAAC regular season title in 2001. During Ruland’s first three years at Iona, the Gaels achieved an overall record of 59 wins and 35 losses (0.620).

In 2001, Petriccione was promoted from Director of Athletics to Vice President of Advancement and External Affairs for the College.  Shawn Brennan, a former Gaels coach, took over the Director of Athletics position.  Later that year, Ruland signed a new eight-year contract with Iona which paid him over $300,000 per year—making him the highest paid employee of Iona—and imposed significant financial costs on the College if it chose to fire him.  Craig Holcomb was given a raise of approximately $25,000 per year.

 The Iona men’s basketball program suffered a number of setbacks, both on and off the court, during the next three years. 

Iona had a record of 41-47 from 2001-2004, and failed to earn a spot in either the NCAA or NIT tournaments.  The Gaels were the subject to intense criticism by the local media for “lacking discipline and drive.”

In late 2001, several Iona players were accused of misusing vouchers for course books by re-selling them for cash.  Brennan ordered the players to make restitution to the College, but he did not report the incident to the NCAA nor did he keep a written record of the investigation.  Two starters were expelled after the 2002-2003 season, and two more suspended during the 2003-2004 season for failing to meet academic requirements or violating team rules.  One of the suspended players, DeShaun Williams, had been recruited for the program by Holcomb.  In October of 2003, the NCAA informed Iona that it was beginning an investigation into the possible violation of various rules by Gaels coaches and players.  As part of this investigation, Ruland and another assistant coach Rob O’Driscoll, were interviewed, but Holcomb was not.  It was not known whether Iona’s third assistant men’s basketball coach, Tony Chiles, was interviewed during the investigation. 

The Iona administration decided that it had to do something to “shake up the program” in early 2004.  Iona President Bro. James Liguori had stated to the press that the men’s basketball team was not meeting his expectations and that he was “not a happy camper.”  Two months later, Liguori and the Iona Board of Trustees ordered Brennan to undertake a written evaluation of the men’s basketball program and make recommendations for its reform. 

Brennan made his preliminary report to Petriccione, Sister Marie Thornton, Iona’s Vice President of Finance, and Dr. Warren Rosenberg, College Provost, several weeks later, shortly followed by a revised preliminary report.  In the preliminary reports, Brennan suggested four possible courses of action:  (1) fire the entire coaching staff, including Ruland, (2) fire all of the assistant coaches, but retain Ruland, (3) make no changes to the coaching staff, or (4) putting the entire coaching staff “on notice” and requiring the implementation of a 25-point plan to rehabilitate the team.  Brennan supported the fourth option, but stated that he believed Ruland was responsible for the team’s lack of discipline.  Brennan felt that firing Ruland was not possible due to the financial penalties that were written into his contract with the College, and that firing Ruland’s assistant coaches without firing him would be “detrimental to the program.” 

However, all three assistant coaches, Holcomb, Chiles, and O’Driscoll, were the subjects of heavy criticism both in the report and by certain members of the Iona community during Brennan’s investigative process.  Brennan learned that it was believed that Holcomb’s recruiting was substandard.  Brennan stated that the coaching staff—both assistants and Ruland—could not get along, paid no attention to details, and that they “lacked a fundamental understanding of how college basketball works.” 

Brennan presented his final report to Liguori, Petriccione, Thornton, and Rosenberg, and recommended that his suggested “fourth option” be taken.  Petriccione supported Brennan’s recommendation, but Liguori, Thornton, and Rosenberg refused to consider the fourth option, insisting that some sort of change had to be made to the coaching staff.  After a series of conference calls involving Brennan, Liguori, Thornton, Petriccione, and several members of the Board of Trustees, the decision was made to retain Ruland and O’Driscoll, but that Holcomb and Chiles would be terminated. 

Brennan then met with Ruland to inform him about the decision, stating to Ruland that it was believed that the assistants were not giving him the support he needed as head coach.  Ruland—who apparently had no idea that the administration was considering terminating his assistant coaches—said that he would “go to the wall” to retain Holcomb.  However, there was nothing to indicate that Ruland did, in fact, take any action to retain Holcomb.

Both Holcomb and Chiles were asked to resign in May, 2004.  Chiles agreed to resign, but Holcomb refused to do so.  He was fired several days later.  O’Driscoll was informed that Liguori had ordered the firings of Holcomb and Chiles, but that his job was secure.  However, unbeknownst to Brennan and Ruland, O’Discroll had applied for several coaching jobs during the spring of 2004.  Less than a week after the termination of Holcomb, O’Driscoll accepted the position of first assistant men’s basketball coach at Marist College.

In June 2004, the NCAA issued a report on the alleged violations at Iona.  The NCAA stated that it found several “secondary violations” and stated that one of the violations was traceable to O’Driscoll.  The NCAA found that it had been a violation of NCAA rules for O’Driscoll to help one of the members of the men’s basketball to move his belongings from his dormitory to a garage. 

Brennan left Iona in July 2004 to accept a position with AdPro, a sports apparel company. 

Shortly after leaving Iona, Holcomb filed suit against the College for racial discrimination in federal district court in Manhattan.  Holcomb, who is white, alleged that Iona fired him out of racial animus because his wife is an African-American. 

Holcomb based his claim of discrimination on two factors which, he believed, indicated a work environment that was racially intolerant:  (1) Iona’s decision to restrict attendance by coaches’ spouses at functions sponsored by the Goal Club, an alumni fundraising organization associated with the Gaels’ athletic department, and (2) a history of “racist and racially insensitive conduct” by Petriccione.

From 1997 through 2003, the Iona athletic department invited members of high school basketball teams—including potential recruits—to attend Goal Club post-game receptions with players and coaches.  Most members of the Goal Club were white alumni and donors of the College. 

Jamie Fogarty, Iona’s Assistant Athletic Director of Compliance, noticed Dexter Gray, a highly-recruited local high school player at a post-game reception after Iona’s 92-83 loss to George Mason on November 29, 2003.  Fogarty immediately called the NCAA’s compliance office to determine whether Gray’s attendance at the reception was in violation of NCAA rules limiting a recruit’s contact with an institution to certain staff members.  The NCAA responded that Gray’s attendance at the Goal Club event—as well as the attendance of other high school players and potential recruits at other Goal Club events—did, in fact, constitute a violation of NCAA rules.  Brennan immediately banned all high school students from future Goal Club events.  Many of the high school athletes who had been invited to attend Goal Club events were African-Americans. 

Holcomb met with Brennan to discuss the new policy.  Holcomb was upset because he believed that permitting high school students to attend Goal Club events was “within a grey area of NCAA rules” and that the new policy would hurt recruiting.  Brennan did not offer to change the policy, but also informed Brennan that his wife, as well as other spouses, girlfriends, and boyfriends of athletic department staff, would no longer be permitted to attend Goal Club events because they were neither alumni nor donors. 

Holcomb “concluded that Iona was attempting to limit minority presence at its fundraising events.”  He noted that Ruland and three other Gaels coaches or assistant coaches were married to spouses of a different race or were involved in interracial relationships.

Holcomb claimed that Petriccione often used racially offensive language.  Holcomb claimed that in 1995 or 1996 he heard Petriccione say, “Everybody at Fordham thinks they have these good black kids and Iona has niggers.”  Holcomb also claimed that when the College discovered that several men’s basketball players had sold their College-issued long-distance telephone access codes to other students, Petriccione said to him that the men’s basketball coaches should “keep [their] niggers in line.”  Holcomb also alleged that he ran into Petriccione at a bar on February 4, 2000, after Iona had defeated Canisius 66 to 56, and Petriccione stated that he learned that Holcomb had recently become engaged and asked him if was going to marry an “Aunt Jemima.”  Holcomb also claimed that Petriccione also called him a “nigger lover” at the bar.  Petriccione later stated that he did not recall these conversations.

Several other Iona employees also claimed that Petriccione made racially insensitive remarks in everyday speech.  Bonnie Sirower, Iona’s Director of Annual Giving, stated that Petriccione regularly referred to Italian-Americans as “guineas,” to Sirower herself as “his favorite Jew,” and to a member of his office who was a native of Nigeria as “a jungle bunny” and “an African princess.”  Sirower also stated that when the Nigerian-American applied for a promotion, he said, “Who does she think she is coming from hut in Africa and thinking she could apply for this job?”  Sirower stated that Petriccione regularly said “things that really were not becoming or suitable for a person, especially a vice president.” 

Iona asked the federal court for summary judgment, alleging that Holcomb failed to sufficiently allege a case of employment discrimination, based on his status as spouse of a minority, in his initial pleadings.  The court noted that in order to survive a motion for summary judgment in a case of employment discrimination, a plaintiff must show that he or she may have been discriminated against and the employer must be able to show that it did not have a “facially non-discriminatory reason” for the negative employment action taken against the employee. 

The court found that the evidence presented by Holcomb related to the Goal Club’s exclusion of high school players and athletic department spouses and the comments allegedly made by Petriccione may have indicated that he was discriminated against because of his wife’s race.  However, the court found that Holcomb was unable to link the events related to the Goal Club and the comments made by Petriccione to the College’s evaluation of the men’s basketball team and its decision to terminate two of the assistant coaches.  Further, the court noted that there was significant evidence to indicate that non-whites attended Goal Club events in significant numbers after the ban on coaches’ spouses and high school athletes—those minorities who attended were just not coaches’ spouses or high school athletes.  Additionally, the court noted that there was not only no evidence indicating that Petriccione wanted to fire Holcomb, but that Petriccione had, in fact, suggested retaining Holcomb during his discussions with Iona administrators and Board of Trustee members.  The court found that Holcomb was simply unable to link any of the alleged racist behaviors with Brennan’s evaluation of the men’s basketball team and Iona’s decision to fire him.

Accordingly, the court entered judgment in favor of Iona.

The case is Holcomb v. Iona College, No. 05-CIV 0848 (S.D.N.Y. 2006). 

JOURNAL NEWS: Former Iona Basketball Coach Jeff Ruland Says Nun Gambled Away School Funds in Atlantic City

The Journal News has significantly advanced the "Sister Susie" story and even credited Talk of the Sound and the Chronicle of Higher Education for first reporting the story.

Having been critical of the Journal News last week -- online and over the WVOX airwaves -- Talk of the Sound wants to credit the Journal News and their reporters -- Jonathon Bandler, Aman Ali and Noreen O'Donnell -- for what has become a full court press. The story now has the makings of becoming a national news story. The off-handed comment by former Iona College Coach Jeff Ruland that "Sister Susie" had "absconded with some funds or something down to Atlantic City" may prove irresistible to the national media. A question that may be asked was whether Sister Susie was betting on sports and in particular Iona College men's basketball.

Here are some of they key points developed by the Journal News over the past week:

1. A memo to Iona College faculty from Brother Liguori in May 2009 stated that Sister Maria Thornton "would be on leave for six months and then would no longer be with Iona".

2. At the time Thornton was fired, Liguori was being honored by the Journal News and the Westchester County Association as the Journal News Business Leader of the Year.

3. Jeff Ruland made a comment to Mike Francesca on WFAN last March that suggests that "Sister Susie" had a gambling problem.

Ruland, a harsh critic of Liguori, was discussing his dismissal from the school and made a passing reference to the school firing Sister Susie. "I think she absconded with some funds or something down to Atlantic City, but that's neither here nor there," he said with a laugh.

4. KPMG was the auditor for Iona College at the time.

5. Sister Anne Myers of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, "Sister Susie's" order issued a statement today.

"The Sisters of Saint Joseph are committed to a mission of unity of all people with God and one another, therefore we hope for a just resolution to this situation involving Sister Marie Thornton who was an employee of Iona College." Asked about her whereabouts, Myers said "She's in a place of rest and recovery".

UPDATE: "Holy Embezzlement" -- WCBS-TV Channel 2 News picked up the story. They interviewed Andrea Fuller from the Chronicle of Higher Education who we interviewed last week on Talk of the Sound Radio on WVOX.