University to Pay Women in Bias Suit

The University of South Florida agreed to pay nearly $900,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by five female professors who said they were denied pay increases and promotions because of their gender. “I’m glad this is behind us,” Betty Castor, the university’s president, said in a statement. Under the agreement, the Tampa, Fla.-based university will pay $144,000 to the five and put at least $750,000 over three years into a fund to help eliminate salary disparities at the school. The university also said it would hire a consultant to review its methods of providing pay and salary adjustments. And it agreed to assign a faculty member as a liaison to Castor on issues of salary equity.