Associated Press

Lisa Simpson, right, meets with Hank Brown, president of the University of Colorado, center, after a news conference in Denver today at which university officials announced that the school will pay Simpson and another woman $2.85 million to settle a lawsuit by the pair, who claimed they were gang-raped at an off-campus party for football recruits.

The University of Colorado will pay two alleged rape victims $2.85 million to settle their Title IX lawsuit against the school — a deal that ends a "painful period" of CU history, President Hank Brown said Wednesday.

Lisa Simpson will receive $2.5 million from CU, while the other plaintiff, Anne Gilmore, will be paid $350,000.

The women claim the university fostered an environment that led to their rapes by football players and recruits during an alcohol-fueled off-campus party in December 2001.

"This settlement closes the chapter on a painful period of the university's history," Brown said. "The University of Colorado is a different place than it was six years ago."

CU officials said Simpson's settlement was larger than Gilmore's because there were different facts involved in each woman's case. Also, Simpson filed her lawsuit earlier and her attorneys took the lead in the case, so she has higher legal fees.

Simpson met privately with top university leaders Wednesday, but was not available for public comment.

"I am pleased with all the steps the university takes to prevent any of its students from becoming future victims of sexual assault," Simpson said in a statement provided by the university.

Gilmore, in a similar statement, said: "My personal decision to settle in no way diminishes my convictions in this matter. I have chosen not to participate in an ongoing, exhaustive litigation process and will instead move forward on my healing process privately."

Not including the settlement, CU already has spent about $3 million in outside legal fees defending itself against the lawsuit, officials said. The university's insurance policy is paying $2 million of those fees, as well as picking up the settlement tab, CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue said.

The remaining $1 million in legal fees is coming from campus budgets, investment earnings and state funds, McConnellogue said. State funds are not being used to pay the settlement costs, he said.

CU attorney Dan Wilkerson, at a news conference in Denver, said the university arrived at the settlement because it otherwise would be taking on a lengthy, difficult and costly court battle.

"There's no admission of liability," Wilkerson said.

Settlement to change campus

Earlier this fall, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit overturned a federal judge's March 2005 decision to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Simpson and Gilmore. In its reinstatement of the case, the court concluded that there is enough evidence that CU "had an official policy of showing high school football recruits a 'good time.'"

The plaintiffs' legal fees are included in the negotiated settlement, school officials said.

The school also will add a Title IX adviser and a half-time position in the Office of Victim Assistance as part of the settlement, McConnellogue said. That adviser needs to be appointed within the next three months, according to the settlement's terms. The adviser will be briefed on issues of sexual harassment, sexual assault, gender discrimination and Title IX violations, and will make recommendations when cases arise.

Title IX, federal legislation adopted in 1972, prohibits sex discrimination in schools.

"The settlement would not have happened without the non-monetary components," said Baine Kerr, Simpson's Boulder attorney. "I think they are of historic importance. I don't believe that any American university has ever before agreed to an outside Title IX adviser position."

The additional half-time counselor position also was important to Simpson, Kerr said.

"She's so grateful for the help that she got from the counselor that was assigned to her after her gang rape," Kerr said.

Simpson, in a second statement issued through her attorneys, said: "I hope that these changes will help prevent other women from having the same experience that I did."

Simpson graduated from another Colorado university, her attorney Kim Hult said, and is now working as a professional in the banking and finance industry.

The Camera does not typically name victims of sexual assault, but identified the women in this case because they were plaintiffs in a lawsuit.

'An entirely different place'

CU President Brown signed the settlement agreement at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Denver. He said he consulted with the Board of Regents, but it was not a matter that required a vote. Regent Cindy Carlisle, D-Boulder, recused herself from the case because she is the wife of Simpson's attorney, Kerr.

Kerr declined to disclose how much money he will receive through the deal, but he said a "very substantial" amount of the case work was done pro bono.

McConnellogue, the university spokesman, said the settlement was the result of "a series of negotiations over many weeks between the plaintiffs and the university counsel."

"Settling this lawsuit is in the best interest of the university," he said. "If we didn't settle, litigation would continue for years at a cost, and we are in an entirely different place than we were."

The lawsuit touched off a football-recruiting scandal, leading to massive fallout among CU's top leaders and athletic staff. The university president, Boulder campus chancellor, athletic director and football coach left their posts amid the controversy.

The university has reformed its athletic department and added strict recruiting rules that make their program among the most stringent in the country, said Boulder campus Chancellor Bud Peterson.

High school recruits coming to the campus have 48 hours for their visits, which are more structured, Peterson said. The recruits have a midnight curfew and the student-athletes hosting them must enter an agreement with the university and be certified.

Drugs, alcohol and sex are not allowed during recruiting visits. Also, students are not allowed to take recruits to parties where there is alcohol or drugs.

Recruits — at the end of their visit — are required to do "exit interviews" with CU officials about their visits.

Moving to End Sexual Assault, which is Boulder County's rape crisis center, has backed Simpson in her case against the university. The organization said Wednesday it supports Simpson's decision to settle the case.

"All that Simpson wanted was change in terms of the university's recruiting practices," said Janine D'Anniballe, the executive director of MESA. "She wasn't seeking monetary gain. She simply wanted change."

Camera Staff Writer Vanessa Miller contributed to this report.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com.