Our View

By:

Colleen Buhrer

Patrick Crossland

Willow Welter

Christopher J. Ortiz

CSU is settling a lawsuit against the university and the former

dean of the College of Business, Daniel Costello. This cost the

school nearly $227,000. Before, CSU settled another lawsuit against

the same dean that cost the school more than $500,000, according to

today’s story on page three.

The latest lawsuit came about when Costello reportedly demoted a

former associate dean, Jon Clark, after he filed reports saying

Costello had sexually harassed female employees and used gender

discrimination.

When reports of sexual harassment and discrimination are filed,

the university should and needs to take those reports seriously and

act upon them before the school has to pay out a quarter of a

million dollars to settle lawsuits out of court.

The previous lawsuit against Costello was filed by a professor

who claimed he was fired after he blew the whistle on another

professor receiving cutbacks from textbook publishers. The lawsuit

against Costello and former CSU President Albert Yates cost the

university more than $500,000 to settle.

When the action of a dean is costing the school more than

$750,000, the university needs to take action. The university

should have put together an investigative panel to look into the

allegations and decide if this dean should still be employed by CSU

before his actions cost the university more money.

We are seeing what happens when a university doesn’t take the

necessary actions in responding to allegations. Can anyone say the

University of Colorado-Boulder? We should strive to set a better

example.