Top Boss at Fordham University's Westchester Campus, Brother James Liguori, Resigns Amid Allegations He Sexually Abused a Boy More Than 42 Years Ago

By Oren Yaniv
New York Daily News
July 21, 2012

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/top-boss-fordham-university-westchester-campus-brother-james-liguori-resigns-allegations-sexually-abused-a-boy-42-years-article-1.1119039

James Liguori

A top administrator at Fordham University resigned Friday amid allegations he sexually abused a boy more than 42 years ago.

James Liguori, executive director of Fordham’s Westchester campus, who previously was president of Iona College, stepped down one day after a lawsuit by his alleged victim was made public.

“Brother Liguori passed a criminal background check in fall 2011, when he was hired by Fordham,” the university said in a statement. “University officials began investigating immediately, and on Friday [he] submitted his resignation, effective immediately.”

The man who filed the suit claimed Liguori molested him in 1969 at the Cardinal Farley Military Academy in Dutchess County, which was run by the Christian Brothers.

The religious order went bankrupt after more than 50 similar suits were filed against it in the United States alone, according to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. A New York bankruptcy court set an Aug. 1 deadline for any additional claims.

This is the first allegation lodged against Liguori, who headed Iona for 17 years before joining Fordham in 2011.

oyaniv @nydailynews.com