Rudy Giuliani’s son is suing Duke University and the men’s golf coach after being kicked off the team.
Andrew Giuliani, a senior, claims in a lawsuit that he was wrongfully kicked off the team in February.
The lawsuit says that Giuliani, the former New York mayor’s son with Donna Hanover, was kicked off the team without any warning, and it interfered with the student’s chances of being a professional golfer.
“[Men’s golf coach] O.D. Vincent announced to the team that he was unilaterally canceling Andrew’s eligibility to participate in the University’s Athletics Program immediately and indefinitely. Andrew and his teammates were shocked. Andrew had no prior notice of what was about to happen. At no time was Andrew ever given an opportunity to defend himself; instead he was summarily dismissed,” the lawsuit read.
“This has been heartbreaking,” Hanover said in a statement. “We tried for many months to convince members of the Duke administration that this situation should be corrected and we are sad that we have now had to turn to the court.”
The coach said Giuliani “flipped his putter a few feet to his golf bag” and drove fast while leaving a golf course parking lot, according to the lawsuit. Giuliani also was accused of playing a team football game harder than the other players liked and of being disrespectful to a trainer.
The only way Giuliani can get back on the team, the suit contends, is with written letters of support from each team member. The suit claims these were “unique parameters” created to keep Giuliani off the team.
“Andrew’s suspension would become a permanent cancellation of his athletic eligibility at Duke unless every single one of his twelve teammates wrote a letter to O.D. Vincent that O.D. Vincent deemed ‘satisfactory’ supporting Andrew’s reinstatement to the team and explaining the reasons why,” the suit said.
“The only University document that is consistent with O.D. Vincent’s scheme,” the court documents say, “is the library’s copy of William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies,” the 1954 novel about British boys trapped on a deserted island with disastrous consequences.
The suit also alleges that coach O.D. Vincent strong armed other team members to not support Giuliani’s return by threatening to kick them off the team also.
“It was plainly obvious to each team member that their own personal interests were directly in conflict with Andrew’s reinstatement to the team,” the suit reads. “They feared that O.D. Vincent could unilaterally dismiss them from the team without warning or notice.”
Andrew Giuliani told Newsday his father is not involved in the lawsuit.
“I love my father very much,” Andrew said. “I just decided not to ask him to get involved in the situation.”
Duke University spokesman Keith Lawrence said today the university was discussing the lawsuit but didn’t have an immediate comment.
The 198-page lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court by Durham attorney Robert Ekstrand. Ekstrand did not immediately return a message for comment.
With AP