$2.5 million CU settlement

Rocky Mountain News

Published December 5, 2007 at 8:31 a.m.
Updated December 5, 2007 at 1:15 p.m.

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Photo by Dennis Schroeder © The Rocky

University of Colorado President Hank Brown, left, and CU Boulder Chancellor Bud Peterson address a news conference on the Title IX resolution with Lisa Simpson and another woman today. Simpson received $2.5 million and the other woman received $350,000.

The University of Colorado will pay Lisa Simpson $2.5 million to settle her lawsuit against the school.

Simpson sued the school after a December 2001 off-campus party attended by CU football players and recruits, where Simpson and another woman said they were sexually assaulted.

"This topic has dominated the university's discussions and topics for the last several years," CU President Hank Brown said at a news conference today. "In the last two and a half years, we've had dramatic changes at the university. We are a different institution today than we were three years ago or six years ago."

The women's Title IX lawsuit said the assaults were the result of an environment fostered by CU's athletic department.

Simpson is due $2.5 million and the second woman will receive $350,000, CU officials said.

Simpson met with Brown at his office today and was not made available for comment, but a prepared statement was released at the news conference.

"I am pleased with all steps the university takes to prevent any of its students from becoming future victims of sexual assault and I encourage other institutions of higher education throughout the nation to take similar steps," Simpson said.

The school also will add a Title IX adviser and a half-time position in the Office of Victim Assistance as part of the settlement, university spokesman Ken McConnellogue said.

"Even more important than the dollar amount of the settlement is the agreement by CU to enact historic changes agreed to as part of the resolution of this case," said Simpson's attorney, Baine Kerr.

He said CU's agreement to establish a Title IX adviser is unique and precedent-setting.

"No other university has ever done anything remotely like this," he said. "This is quite historic."

Kerr said the adviser will monitor issues of sexual harassment, assault, gender discrimination and violations of Title IX at CU.

The adviser will review all university actions on these issues and make recommendations directly to the chancellor and president on individual cases of student abuse, he said.

The additional half-time counselor position also was important to Simpson, Kerr said.

"The office was of tremendous help to Lisa in the aftermath of her rape, and she wanted to make sure other people also would be helped," he said. "This is one way to accomplish that."

In September, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the lawsuit, saying there was evidence the university had an official policy of showing high school recruits a "good time" and had shown deliberate indifference. The appeals judges sent the lawsuit back to district court.

Brown said the ruling played a role today's developments.

"No question the appellate court's decision rewrote the law, it changed the rules, it changed the guidelines and indeed it was a factor in the settlement."

Fallout from the allegations and the lawsuit rocked CU and its athletic department, plunging the university into a series of investigations.

No sexual assault charges were filed as a result of the women's complaints. A grand jury investigation resulted in a single indictment against a former football recruiting aide for soliciting a prostitute and misusing a school cell phone.

A separate inquiry, backed by the university's governing Board of Regents, concluded that drugs, alcohol and sex were used to entice blue chip recruits to the Boulder campus but said none of the activity was knowingly sanctioned by university officials.

The school responded by overhauling oversight of the athletics department and putting some of the most stringent policies in place for any football recruiting program.

Over the years, the scandal played a central role in the departures of former President Betsy Hoffman, Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny, Athletic Director Dick Tharp and head football coach Gary Barnett.

"I don't mean to indicate we will never have problems," Brown said this morning. "Any time you gather 50,000 young people together in two or three or four locations, sometimes you'll hear of unusual things happen, but I do mean to imply to you that we have taken this problem seriously and we have taken every single measure we can think of that can be reasonable to protect our students."

Janine D'Anniballe, director of Boulder's rape crisis center, said Simpson fought hard to make CU change.

"She wanted change in the university. I think that's what she got. Even more important than money is change," she said.

A contrite Brown echoed those comments in a statement praising Simpson.

"Ms. Simpson's efforts have contributed to making the university a safer place for all its students. The university and I profoundly regret that Ms. Simpson underwent a very traumatic experience while a member of our university community."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

• December 5, 2007

  10:40 a.m.

  Scott writes:

  (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

• December 5, 2007

  11:46 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  ajward writes:

  This is jsut another example of how the school has not changed. I find it funny that Hank Brown talks about a change at the school yet the fans at the CU Nebraska game, CU fans, continued to chant F*#@um up F#*@um up go CU, as a Nebraska fan I felt scarred and nervous walking back to my car after the game. Just glad that we had Colorado not Nebraska license plates. Real classy, something that would never be heard in Lincoln Nebraska. Has the environment really changed, or are they jsut better at covering it up? Pay the poor women, and than focus on hiring moral and ethical people to run the school. Real change is necessary at the University of Colorado.
  Stay classy CU stay classy

• December 5, 2007

  1:15 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  me2 writes:

  Lots of folks have known about this stuff for years, just like we knew men molested as boys by Catholic priests. When the truth comes out that is a good day. Go Lisa, good for you.

  Using girls to recruit boys to play football? I`m shocked, just shocked (paraphrasing "Casablanca").

• December 7, 2007

  10:22 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  stiw writes:

  Q backed off but i do not believe it happen i see a girl that was passing out condoms and getting drunk and let these guys do something to her and she realized she would look bad so she cried rape.Her roommates did not see the rape nore did she ask for help from anyone.She is a tramp that got 2.8 mil by crying wolf. How come the DA could not press charges?If I was raped and had proof I would not have settled for 2.8 I would have taken it to court. Her attorney knew she also had a past that would not hold up to cross examination.

• December 7, 2007

  1:54 p.m.

  truth_teller writes:

  (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

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