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By Todd Shepherd
A new court filing in a lawsuit by a former St. Joseph’s University professor against his old employer sheds new light on the investigation the university conducted into claims against the professor’s character — and a number of quotes from that investigation’s final report suggest the university had little, if anything, to hold against him.
In 2021, the university investigated visiting mathematics professor Greg Manco after multiple allegations — mostly on social media at the time — that Manco had acted with racial bias in his classroom. But the new court filing quotes the university’s investigation as saying “there is no evidence that Manco treated students unfairly based on race or any other protected characteristic while they were a student in his class.”
After the investigation had concluded, Manco’s status as visiting professor was later revoked when the university decided to rescind his contract and make him an adjunct professor instead — a move that resulted in lower pay and far fewer benefits. The university said the action was needed because of budget constraints, but Manco, who had worked at St. Joe’s for 17 years, said it was retaliation.
Why It Matters. According to the court filing, the SJU investigation into Manco’s conduct found “Colbert did not provide any direct evidence of discrimination or harassment while she was a student in Manco’s class, and there is no evidence that Manco treated Colbert differently because of her race.”
"These Twitter posts appear to represent Manco’s own personal opinions, and do not suggest in any way that they represent the views of the University,” the investigation also found.
"I further conclude that the Twitter comments at issue on Manco’s Twitter account do not constitute harassment and did not create an intimidating or hostile learning environment under University policy,” the investigator wrote elsewhere in the report.
Quotable. Manco’s attorney, Joe Toddy, said as the discovery phase has progressed, all the evidence he is seeing points just one direction.
"I’ve not seen one document that St. Joe’s or any of the alumni defendants have provided us that does not make me have even more belief in Greg’s case. As we pointed out in our original pleading, Greg was made a scapegoat. It’s very obvious,” Toddy said.
"I’ve reviewed their investigation documents and they exonerated Greg. Of course, St. Joe’s chose to tell the media something completely else, kept him on administrative leave, cut down his classes, and then when he had the temerity to file this lawsuit, they then tried to hide behind FERPA and fire him. And it’s just not right.”
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