Former Instructor, WSU Settle Lawsuit

A settlement has been reached in a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed against Washington State University by former faculty member Cynthia Christie.

The settlement will provide the former health education and first-aid instructor with $700 a month for 20 years and a $70,000 lump sum payment at the end of that time. An offer of re-employment also was made, WSU officials said.

It was approved Tuesday by a Whitman County Superior Court judge.

Christie, who filed the suit in December 1996, is one of four women who sued WSU, alleging that they are victims of retaliation from Education Dean Bernard Oliver and Assistant Dean Lawrence Bruya. The men were named as defendants in the suit along with WSU.

Each woman claimed Oliver and Bruya denied them promotions and raises in retaliation for vocal opposition to the college administration’s budget-cutting plans.

WSU settled with the other women in September. University officials then admitted that there were administrative problems within the College of Education and vowed to correct them. Each woman received from $70,000 to $80,000. , DataTimes