Minuto Family Drops Admission Case

In a surprise filing Tuesday, lawyers agreed to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Tulane student Marco G. “Mike” Minuto alleging that Harvard College had reneged on a promise of admission made by football coach Tim Murphy.

The Minuto family said they sought the dismissal to avoid a long, drawn-out court battle.

The dismissal came two days before the first scheduled hearing on the case in U.S. District Court in Boston.

“The decision to dismiss the lawsuit was a very prudent move on the Minutos’ part given the preponderance of evidence in the matter,” Dean of Admissions Marlyn McGrath-Lewis ’70-’73 said.

Tuesday’s filing, signed by both Minuto family lawyer Joseph F. Hardcastle and Harvard attorney Robert W. Iuliano, said that the dismissal came “with prejudice”—meaning that the matter cannot be raised again—and both sides agreed to pay for their own costs in the case.

“This case is over,” Hardcastle said.

The lawsuit, filed in early July, asked the court to order Harvard to admit Minuto this fall as a member of the Class of 2004. The suit charged that Murphy offered Minuto admission before Harvard “reconsidered” and denied him a place.

As a result of his failed plans to transfer, the lawsuit alleged that Minuto did not receive a full scholarship to play football at Tulane that he was otherwise promised.

However, Harvard filed a stinging response two weeks ago, presenting signed affidavits from Murphy denying the allegations, along with affidavits from admissions officers saying Minuto was “very weak academically” and from the Tulane coaching staff saying that Minuto had misrepresented his football credentials to the Harvard staff.

“[Minuto’s] position is legally and factually without merit, [and] his conduct has been dishonest,” Harvard’s brief concluded.

McGrath-Lewis said she sees the dismissal as a vindication for the “careful” handling of athletic recruits by the athletic department and the admissions office.

“We cannot immunize ourselves from misrepresentation and lies, but…we feel that this is a resounding endorsement of the care with which the coaching staff and the admissions office handle these cases,” she said.

Minuto will be returning to Tulane this fall, according to his father Anthony Minuto.

—Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.