Chronicle of Higher Education - UK Pays Researcher $125,000 to Settle Religious-Discrimination Lawsuit

By Paul Basken, The Chronicle of Higher Education

The University of Kentucky has agreed to pay $125,000 to a researcher who appeared likely to take charge of a new astronomical observatory until university officials became doubtful about his commitment to the scientific tenets of evolution.

C. Martin Gaskell, who had been a research associate professor in astronomy at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, then became the plaintiff in a lawsuit brought against the University of Kentucky in July 2009, and this week the two sides agreed to a settlement. It comes two months after a federal judge refused the university's request to dismiss the case.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Mr. Gaskell by the American Center for Law and Justice, which claimed a broad victory in what it has described as a case of religious discrimination.

"We have shed some much-needed light on a problem that is by no means limited to the University of Kentucky," a lawyer with the center, Francis J. Manion, said in a written statement.

The university said in its own written statement that the settlement "precludes what would have been a lengthy trial that, ultimately, would not have served anyone's best interests" and would have cost a lot of money to litigate.

The complete story is posted here.