Stanford University could have tried to silence intimate attack victims, providing them cash in return for withdrawal of Title IX complaints they would lodged using the workplace for Civil Rights, BuzzFeed reported Wednesday.

Two ladies talked because of the web site in regards to the settlements Stanford apparently attempted to reach along with their solicitors. One made a decision to stay anonymous, nevertheless the other, 2014 graduate Leah Francis, stated the college offered her $60,000, fundamentally to cover therapy, if she’d withdraw her issue and end the investigation that is federal the college’s control of intimate misconduct allegations. The money was accepted by neither woman.

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In an emailed statement, Stanford’s Vice President for University Communications, Lisa Lapin, published that BuzzFeed’s tale “misrepresents the circumstances” — that the institution was indeed “respond[ing] to demands from [the complainants’] attorneys that Stanford spend money with their consumers or be up against expensive and time intensive litigation.” She proceeded:

Stanford just isn’t looking for and it has never ever wanted at all to finish the Title IX investigations and may maybe not achieve this no matter if it reached funds forestalling potential litigation with an party that is individual.