USC Officials Named in Lawsuit : College athletics: Former employee who lost his job takes case to court.

A former USC employee, who charged last year that he was ordered under threat of dismissal to stop a study of academically deficient student-athletes, is suing school officials.

Matthew Duncan, a former testing and assessment coordinator in USC’s Learning Center, charged in Superior Court in Los Angeles that his reputation and chances of future employment were damaged by published statements made after he tried to expose problems with the school’s academic support system. He also charged that he was libeled by comments about his work published in the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Daily Trojan, USC’s student newspaper.

Duncan, who lives in Irvine, refused to discuss the case Thursday, referring all inquiries to the complaint he filed.

Duncan, who lost his job two years ago because of what USC officials said were budgetary cuts, found in a 1988 study that some USC athletes had reading deficiencies that were not being addressed by academic support administrators.

In a reading test Duncan gave to 73 athletes, most from football, basketball and track and field, 50 had below-average comprehensive skills and 30 of those had low-level skills, according to reports published last year citing “documents” that discussed the study.

Athletic Director Mike McGee, who was named as a defendant, told the Washington Post last year that Duncan’s research was flawed because of its methodology.

Duncan, who worked for the school’s Student Affairs branch, was not part of the athletic department.

Also named as defendants are Alonzo Anderson, director of Learning Support Services at USC; Delores Akins, the former manager of the Learning Center; Margaret Gatz, the school’s NCAA faculty representative; Sylvia Manning, executive vice provost; James Dennis, vice president of student affairs; Tim Tessalone, director of sports information; John Crossley, chairman of a committee assigned to investigate Duncan’s findings, and members of the USC board of trustees.

USC officials could not be reached.

Published reports last year said that Duncan contacted NCAA and government officials in an effort to bring the reading results to light. Duncan alleged in the complaint that Akins told him not to contact people outside the university. He filed a letter with the complaint written on a USC letterhead and dated Dec. 1, 1989, in which Akins told Duncan to “discontinue all contact with individuals outside the university regarding research on USC student-athletes.”

After some of the information was published last year, Duncan asked for a Congressional hearing on the matter, according to a letter sent to Sen. John Seymour (R-Ca.) that was obtained by The Times. A hearing was never held.