The last of eight termination suits levied against Loyola University in Hurricane Katrina’s wake is reaching a settlement just a week shy of going to trial after three years of litigation.

Mary Blue, a former broadcast communication professor with tenure, filed suit with the university along with seven other tenured professors after their employment contracts were terminated in 2007.

All but Blue’s case have since settled, with most of the settlements’ terms sealed. Four other tenured professors were terminated but did not file lawsuits.

Blue’s case was set for trial Nov. 8.

According to Douglas Moore, one of Loyola University’s attorneys, the court was notified on October 29 that both parties had entered negotiations for a settlement. “It’s a matter of knocking out the paperwork now,” said Moore. “…But [my clients] are happy.”

Moore also said that the terms of the settlement with Blue will include a non-disclosure agreement much like the majority of cases filed by professors terminated after Hurricane Katrina.

The settlement negotiation was preceded by a flurry of motions filed by Loyola’s defense team over the past two months. Motions were filed to exclude evidence attacking the wisdom of the university’s “educational judgments,” evidence about the University Rank and Tenure Committee’s conclusions that administration had broken rules as ascribed by the faculty handbook, evidence concerning the American Association of University Professors, testimony involving the university’s endowment and evidence related to Walter Harris’ employment, the former provost of Loyola University.

Judge Michael G. Bagneris decided not to rule on any motions to suppress evidence until the first day of trial, according to Moore. According to chapter nine of the faculty handbook, tenured faculty can only be terminated if the programs in which they taught were dismissed. In order to lower overhead, the university dismissed various academic programs ranging from broadcast communication to physics and education to computer science.

Some of these programs have been reinstated since then, yet others could not because the very basis of the university’s argument in court was that firing tenured professors was due to the dismissal of the programs in which they taught. If the university brought these programs back before the conclusion of the trials, then they would be forced to either concede defeat in court or rehire the former professors.

The terminations were originally part of a university-wide restructuring program called Pathways. It was a response to lowered tuition revenues following hurricane Katrina.

Jean-Paul Arguello can be reached at [email protected]