A woman who won a lawsuit involving sex harassment and wrongful firing against Alabama State University, its board chairman, and a former president has agreed to settle the case for $575,000.
The Rev. Venus Longmire, who coordinated the campus ministry programs at Alabama State until she was dismissed in 1991, says she settled the suit to avoid likely appeals by the university and the chairman, Joe L. Reed. Ms. Longmire said the university would pay her $200,000 in damages and $375,000 in attorney’s fees.
Ms. Longmire said she had mixed feelings about settling the case. She called it “a post-trial compromise,” while terming the jury’s earlier verdict a “victory.”
Ms. Longmire said she had also decided to settle the case after receiving threats and being harassed since the federal jury reached its verdict. Neither Mr. Reed nor his lawyer could be reached for comment. Alabama State would not comment on the settlement.
The jury upheld Ms. Longmire’s civil charges of sexual harassment, invasion of privacy, and assault and battery against the former president, Leon Howard (The Chronicle, February 12). In her lawsuit, she said that she had endured escalating sexual harassment from Mr. Howard -- beginning with flirtations, then invitations for sex, and finally an attempted rape in 1989.
Mr. Howard was indicted by a grand jury on charges of attempted rape. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of “harassing communications” and resigned as president.
The federal jury also upheld separate charges against Mr. Reed. Ms. Longmire said he had fired her in retaliation for an unrelated ethics charge that she had filed against him. The state ethics commission dismissed the complaint for lack of evidence. Both men denied Ms. Longmire’s charges.
The jury awarded Ms. Longmire $330,000, but the judge had yet to decide on whether to award her back pay and to reinstate her in her job. The settlement ended the case.
