“UConn’t do that!” Ex-Soccer Player Suing University for Revoking Athletic Scholarship

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In a bizarre lawsuit, a former soccer player from the University of Connecticut (UConn) is filing suit against her alma mater for taking her athletic scholarship away, but not for the reason you might think. It all started in 2014 after the UConn women’s soccer team won the American Athletic Conference title game. In a moment of jubilation, then-freshman Noriana Radwan hugged a teammate and then looked to the television camera directly in front of her, and proudly “flipped the bird,” likely without any idea of the consequences that would follow.

The initial publicity storm was massive. Once word of Radwan’s actions got around, women’s soccer head coach Len Tsantiris suspended her from participating in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Radwan wrote the university a letter apologizing for her actions, but in the eyes of UConn, her fate had been sealed. In the middle of the school year, after all of the media attention died down, the University informed Radwan that they were revoking her athletic scholarship for “serious misconduct.”

Now, two years later, Radwan is suing the school in Federal District Court for the District of Connecticut. Radwan alleges that when the University took back her athletic scholarship, they did so without providing her with sufficient due process. Greg Tarone — Radwan’s attorney — says that his client’s actions were not, in fact, “serious misconduct.” In supporting his argument, Mr. Tarone opined about how there are other instances where UConn athletes engaged in far more serious conduct, but did not have their scholarships revoked. In one example, a UConn football player was not even suspended after he was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges.

Since the 2014 incident, Radwan transferred out of UConn to Hofstra University, where she continues to play soccer on a partial-athletic scholarship. She is seeking monetary damages in her suit against UConn. The university — citing federal privacy laws — did not comment on the pending litigation.

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