Ex-Finance Employee Sues Villanova Claiming Race, Religious Bias

Villanova University created a hostile work environment, retaliated, and discriminated on the basis of race and religion in violation of federal and Pennsylvania law, a new federal lawsuit says.

Jennifer Powell-Folks, who is Black and a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, filed her complaint Monday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Powell-Folks, who began working at Villanova as its director of finance and administration in January 2022, says she experienced bias and a hostile environment because she was not Catholic and because she was Black.

Powell-Folks sought out the university’s human resources department ...