The University of Tennessee has not admitted guilt, but it has agreed to pay eight former students nearly $2.5 million to settle a sexual assault lawsuit for incidents spanning two decades. One advocate for sexual assault victims says this is a “hands down victory.”
Attorney Cari Simon says that even if the school doesn’t admit responsibility, the settlement sends a strong message.
“It is at the very least an acknowledgement that they owe these individuals for what’s been done to them,” she says. “It will have a deterrent effect on this type of conduct in the future.”
Simon is a leader in the national movement to address campus assault and has represented numerous victims in similar circumstances. She points out that UT tried to get the case dismissed, but could not. That’s when negotiations began.
Simon believes no students want to sue their own school, and only resort to such an “extreme act” when they feel their complaints are not addressed, and they are not protected.
“Lots of schools are not being sued because they’re doing right by victims,” Simon says. “Where schools try to sweep it under the rug is, I think, where they invoke the possibility of lawsuits.”
As part of the settlement, UT has agreed to create an independent commission to make sure all of the school’s campuses are responding appropriately to sexual assault claims.