La Salle cleared of discrimination charges

By Sam Fran Scavuzzo
Collegian Editor
February 6, 2008

La Salle was cleared of all wrong-doing by a federal court last week in a discrimination case filed by a former department chair. On Jan. 25, all six counts of discrimination alleged by the Iranian born Dr. Madjid Tavana were rejected by a jury for the Federal Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the university was not required to pay Tavana any compensatory damages.

In the charges, Tavana claimed La Salle used his nationality and his Muslim religion as motivating factors in removing him from his chair position of the management department and rejecting his application to be Dean of the School of Business.

Additionally, Tavana’s lawyers asserted that complaints made by Tavana against the administration caused it to deny him a higher position.  

La Salle successfully defended itself against all claims. After the verdict, the university released a statement.

“La Salle is pleased that the jury found that the university did not discriminate against Professor Tavana on the basis of national origin, religion or prior complaint of discrimination,” the statement said. “La Salle regrets that Professor Tavana feels that he was mistreated and hopes that he can return to the school following his current sabbatical and be a productive faculty member for the rest of his teaching career.”  

Tavana had no comment.

A professor at La Salle since 1984 and chair since 1993, Tavana claimed the former Dean of the Business School Gregory Bruce told him “it seems like all Iranians have a problem with authority” and that Provost Dr. Richard Nigro “did not appreciate [Tavana] leading a one man jihad against him.”

Despite Bruce’s admittance to the jihad comment, university lawyers successfully proved that La Salle’s factors for evaluating Tavana’s qualifications for the dean position were not based on national origin or religion. 

According to court transcripts, Nigro’s testimony indicated that Tavana was the only dean candidate who didn’t submit a cover letter expressing his vision for the future of the business school.

In court, Nigro was questioned on the contentious relationship he and Bruce had with Tavana. However, it was determined that the provost made his decision to not reappoint Tavana as chair before several people informed him that Tavana referred to Bruce as “Rich’s bitch.” 

Lawyers for Tavana were unable to prove that Nigro held a grudge against him, or unfairly singled him out. Nigro admitted that he chastised Tavana for his “bitch” remark, but did not punish Bruce for his admitted “shah” and “jihad” comments. 

According to court transcripts, Nigro agreed that the comments were inappropriate, saying he thought the “jihad” remark “was a dumb thing to say.” However, he did not take any direct action against either Bruce or Tavana.  

The lawsuit indicated Bruce has said Nigro did not want Tavana to continue to be chair as “12 years was too long for one person to be chair.” It went on to assert that five other faculty members served longer than 12 years. 

Additionally, La Salle indicated Tavana was removed because he alienated talented faculty, failed to cooperate with Bruce’s instructions and requests, and exhibited insulting and demeaning behavior toward Bruce and Nigro.  

Subsequently, an e-mail from Nigro to Tavana expressed good wishes for the future.

“I sincerely hope that we can put our differences aside as we welcome a new dean and get on with why we are all working at La Salle: the education of our students,” Nigro wrote, according to court records.

Born in Iran, Tavana is a naturalized citizen residing in Voorhees, N.J. He attended school in Iran and has received several graduate degrees from American institutions, including La Salle. In addition to teaching at La Salle, Tavana is the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences and previously worked for NASA. 

Tavana has been on a prearranged sabbatical, according to the current Dean of the School of Business Dr. Paul Brazina. 

“There is nothing unusual about the sabbatical or the timing of the sabbatical,” Brazina said. “This is a time for research and academic renewal.”

scavuzzos1@lasalle.edu