DENVER
The University of Colorado has agreed to pay two women $2.85 million to settle a lawsuit alleging they were sexually assaulted by football players and recruits, school officials said Wednesday.
The allegations had sparked a football recruiting scandal at the school, prompted broad university reforms and led to a shake-up of its top leaders.
University spokesman Ken McConnellogue said the school also agreed to hire an adviser to monitor compliance with federal laws governing equal treatment of women and add a position in the university Office of Victim Assistance. The agreement came two months after an appellate court revived the lawsuit.
University President Hank Brown said agreeing to the settlement was “a difficult decision, painful in some ways, but it’s my sense that it was in the interest of the university.”
He said the school faced years of litigation over the case, and fees for outside attorneys had already reached $3 million.
One of the women, Lisa Simpson, will receive $2.5 million, McConnellogue said. The other woman, who did not wish be identified publicly, will receive $350,000. The school did not admit fault or liability.
