Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1978 [PAGE 255]

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244

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[March 23

Litigation Related to Motor Vehicle Accident, Chicago

(32) A complaint has been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Chicago (No. 77M1 300940) by Steven Shames against the University and one of its employees, Richard Reid. T h e complaint alleges that on October 14, 1976, a University vehicle driven by Mr. Reid on the Dan Ryan Expressway struck die automobile in which the plaintiff was riding and injured the plaintiff. The complaint seeks damages in the amount of $15,000. The matter is the first-known tort litigation initiated against the University or its employees since termination of the University's insurance coverage on August 1, 1976. In the meantime, the Department of Finance of the State of Illinois has drafted a plan of self-insurance in automobile liability cases which it will administer. T h e draft includes the University and its employees as insureds. I t is believed that the Department of Finance will arrange for representation of the University and Mr. Reid, including direct responsibility for defense of the matter and the payment of any settlement or judgment obligations. It is anticipated that Mr. Reid will request the University to provide representation for him on the grounds that at the time of the alleged accident he was acting on behalf of the University while within the course of his employment. The University Counsel has recommended that he be authorized to take such steps as are necessary or appropriate, including the employment of special counsel, to protect the interests of the University in this matter and to provide representation for Mr. Reid if he requests the same and represents that at all times he was acting on behalf of the University within the scope of his employment. I concur.

T h e student advisory vote was: Aye, Mr. Conlon, Mr. Matthews, Mr. Volgman; no, none. O n motion of Mr. Forsyth, authority was given as recommended by the following vote: Aye, Mr. Forsyth, Mr. H a h n , Mr. Howard, Mr. Lenz, Mr. Livingston, Mr. Neal, Mrs. Rader, Mrs. Shepherd, Mr. Velasquez; no, none; absent, Governor Thompson. Settlement of Discrimination Complaint

(33) Charges were filed in 1973 by Astrid Berkson, a former member of the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at the Urbana-Champaign campus, with the Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that the University had discriminated against her on the basis of sex in denying her indefinite tenure and promotion. Mrs. Berkson had been given a notice of nonreappointment and was on terminal contract for the academic year 1973-74. Subsequently, the Illinois FEPC filed a formal complaint against the University which seeks an order from the commission granting indefinite tenure to Mrs. Berkson and directing that she be made whole as to all benefits and income that would have accrued to her if she had been granted indefinite tenure in 1973. Preliminary motions, depositions, and other discovery have been concluded, and the complaint is now set for hearing before die FEPC. The proceedings will be extensive and will consume the time of many members of tile campus and departmental staff (e.g., the complainant's attorney has filed notice for the University to produce more than twenty-five staff members for testimony at the hearing). In addition, substantial cost will be involved in defending the matter. Further, it is anticipated that there will be an appeal from whatever disposition occurs at the FEPC level.