PORT ANGELES — Peninsula College has settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former student in December 2008 for $55,000.
The student, Bethel Prescott, alleged that her work study supervisor and chemistry professor, the late Paul Woodson, repeatedly sexually harassed and defamed her.
Woodson died in June 2008.
Prescott studied at the Port Angeles college from 2005 to 2007.
Along with Woodson’s estate, the suit named former Peninsula College President Tom Keegan, Peninsula College Human Resources Director Bonnie Cauffman, Dean of Student Development Maria Pena and Gender Equity Adviser Carmen Germain.
It also named 299 “Doe” defendants who included “the administrators, faculty, employees, students and other members of the college community who deliberately or maliciously joined in creating a hostile work environment for Prescott.”
Ordered to pay
Clallam County Superior Court Commissioner Brian Coughenour ordered the state to pay the settlement Feb. 15.
The judgment, stipulation and order of dismissal were filed in Clallam County Superior Court on Jan. 23.
Peninsula College Interim President Brinton Sprague was not available for an interview this week.
Cauffman declined to comment.
In the lawsuit, Prescott said she needed to take a sequence of chemistry courses that Woodson taught and that her work study was supervised by Woodson.
She said Woodson “misused those positions of power and authority to make inappropriate sexual and derogatory comments, engage in explicit inappropriate behavior and generally create a hostile work environment against plaintiff based on her gender.”
Prescott also claimed that Cauffman, Pena, Germain and Keegan, who is now president of Skagit Valley College, allowed a hostile work environment to exist.
The college refuted all 98 allegations made by Prescott in a February 2009 response.
The state Attorney General’s Office, which defended the college, asked the court to dismiss Prescott’s claims.
Bellingham attorney Larry Hildes represented Prescott in the lawsuit.
Acted in good faith
Hildes said Peninsula College officials acted in good faith after they understood what was going on.
“We are pleased,” Hildes said in a Wednesday telephone interview.
“We’re confident they [the college] are going to try very hard to make sure that this never happens again, which is all we can ask for.”
Hildes said the $55,000 settlement was “between where we started and where they started, and the client feels fairly compensated.”
“She was satisfied that [the settlement] fairly compensated her for what she went through, which was a lot,” Hildes said.
After taking time off to care for her ailing husband, Prescott is four credits away from earning her psychology degree from Pacific Lutheran University, Hildes said.
Woodson worked at Bastyr University in Kenmore and the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine before he arrived at Peninsula College.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
