Without admitting any liability, LSU has agreed to pay former kinesology instructor Caroline Owen $150,000 and provide her several letters of recommendation and a personal letter after a two-year-long grade scandal case.
In a 2002 suit against the LSU Board of Supervisors, Owen claimed University department head Amelia Lee told her to keep quiet about plagiarized papers Owen said five football players submitted.
Official settlement records state that the $150,000 is to cover Owen’s court and attorney costs, in addition to any emotional distress she may have incurred as a result of the incident.
The records also say Lee, Michael Welsh and Robert Wood each will provide Owen with signed letters of recommendation for Owen to continue her education. She now is teaching at Our Lady of the Lake Medical College.
Welsh also must provide a personal letter to Owen.
University attorney David Shelby would not comment on the nature of the personal letter or on why the University agreed to the settlement with Owen.
But in August 2002, the Associated Press reported that the University conducted its own investigation into the matter, which led to the transfer of the former director for the Academic Center of Student Athletes and moved the center from the Athletic Department’s control to the provost’s. The University admitted to “secondary” violations and submitted the internal report to the NCAA.
The NCAA did not place the University on probation.
Tiffany Mayne, a former kinesology instructor, also sued the LSU Board of Supervisors in 2002 because of allegations of being pressured to change athletes’ grades. Shelby said Mayne’s trial still is pending and a trial date has not been set.
University spokesman Gene Sands did not return phone calls by press time.