Valparaiso woman gets $200K for sexual harassment at Purdue

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) - Attorneys for a Valparaiso woman say Purdue University has paid her a $200,000 settlement after she alleged she was sexually harassed by two professors while serving as a graduate student and teaching assistant.

They say Mary Christine Alwan struck the out-of-court settlement after filing civil rights complaints last fall with the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The attorneys tell The (Munster) Times (http://bit.ly/1WnIAMQ ) the harassment occurred during the 2014-15 school year in the graduate political science program on the West Lafayette campus. One professor made sexually explicit comments, and the other gave her a fully nude photo of himself.

Both professors were allowed to resign.

Purdue said in a statement Thursday that it acted swiftly to address the conduct well before the complaints were filed.

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Information from: The Times, http://www.thetimesonline.com