McHenry County College student sues after he's banned from campus

A suspended McHenry County College student is suing another student and the Crystal Lake store where that student works, claiming she made false allegations about an off-campus encounter that earned him a two-year ban from the school and its campus.

The suit, filed this week by Crystal Lake resident Matthew Canning, seeks more than $50,000 in compensatory damages and undisclosed punitive damages from the student, Debra Virgens, and Mum Floral & Design for defamation and false light invasion of privacy.

College officials suspended Canning April 7, little more than a week after what the suit describes as a chance meeting at the store between Canning, a retired Marine officer and firefighter, and Virgens.

Four days after the March 27 meeting, according to the suit, Virgens sent an MCC administrator an e-mail claiming Canning walked into the store wearing a jacket with the hood pulled over his face, insulted college officials and made numerous ethnic and racial slurs during a brief conversation.

The next day the administrator asked Virgens via e-mail whether Canning posed a safety risk. Virgens replied that she was afraid of him and others around him should be "aware, concerned and careful," the suit states.

"He appears to have found a coarseness to his being, and I tend to believe that with this kind of coarseness comes a disassociation to feeling compassion for fellow human beings," the suit quotes Virgens as writing. "It is not a far step to true hatred and further willingness to act on such hatred."

Canning denies making any racial or ethnic slurs, and his lawyer today blasted the college for suspending him over what he said officials term as conduct that interfered with college activities.

"It is preposterous to believe that statements he allegedly made at this flower shop interfered with the college, given that it was closed at the time for spring break," Canning attorney Robert Hanlon said. "Mr. Canning is a decorated Marine Corps officer who served his country admirably and now wishes to vindicate his rights."

Virgens declined to comment on the suit Wednesday.

Christina Haggerty, MCC's director of marketing and public relations, confirmed Canning's two-year ban, but said the flower shop incident was not the main cause of it.

"The reason for the suspension was threatening behavior, on campus and off campus, toward other students, staff and faculty members," Haggerty said. "The student has a history of incidents that caused our team to evaluate him and discuss his behavior."

In one of those incidents, the suit indicates, Canning was accused of trying to drive over a maintenance worker at the Crystal Lake campus. School officials met with Canning several times to discuss his behavior before finally suspending him, Haggerty said.

Hanlon disputed allegations that Canning tried to run over a college worker, saying that an independent witness said the employee, not his client, was the aggressor in the incident.

The suit, filed in McHenry County Circuit County, is scheduled to be in court for the first time May 18 before judge Michael Caldwell.