The University of Tennessee has reached a settlement in a lawsuit over sexual assaults allegedly committed by student-athletes, according to The Tennessean. The school will pay $2.48 million to the eight women who filed suit against the university after allegedly being assaulted by Tennessee athletes. The university and the athletic department will split the cost of the settlement evenly.
Tennessee reaches $2.48 million settlement in sexual assault lawsuit
University administrators will no longer face testifying at trial after the settlement was reached.
Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
The terms of the settlement also include the school agreeing to establish an independent commission that will review how schools in the University of Tennessee system handle claims of sexual assault on campus. The settlement does not necessarily end the federal Title IX probe into how the school internally handled sexual assault claims.
Other stipulations of the settlement include that the school will no longer give out a list of local attorneys to athletes accused of crimes, and that the school itself is not admitting to “guilt, negligence, or unlawful acts” by agreeing to settle.
The lawsuit alleged that the university, and in particular the football program, created a hostile atmosphere permissive of sexual crimes against women. It also claimed that the disciplinary process was biased in favor of athletes, in some situations allowing athletes to remain on campus, transfer or even graduate despite having been found to have committed sexual assault by the school’s internal investigations.
Because the lawsuit against the school is being dropped, Tennessee officials, including football head coach Butch Jones, will not take the stand and be deposed at trial. A filing made by one of the plaintiffs claimed that Jones called former Vol Drae Bowles a "traitor" because Bowles helped one of the plaintiffs after she was allegedly raped by a pair of football players, A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams. Bowles was also attacked by other football players twice as retribution. He has since transferred. Johnson and Williams plead not guilty to rape charges and are currently awaiting trial.
See More:
