Friday, March 3,1995 Daily Nebraskan
Sexual harassment suit lingers
Plaintiff’s claims,
attorney’s fees at
heart of dispute
By Brian Sharp
Senior Reporter
It was more than sexual harass
ments — it was retaliation.
That’s how the lawyer for JoAnn
McGaughey described the working
environment her client endured at the
University ofNebraska-Lincoln. It was
an environment, she said, that was
supposed to improve after McGaughey
filed a complaint with the university’s
affirmative action office.
But it only got worse, she said.
McGaughey filed a lawsuit in U.S.
District Court in August 1993 alleg
ing civil rights violations. UNL offi
cials settled last December for $32,000
and offered McGaughey a new job
with a $44,550 salary.
McGaughey’s lawyer, Elaine
Waggoner, asked the court to award
attorney fees and costs of more than
$46,000. UNL promised $26,000. U.S.
District Court Judge Richard Kopf
ruled Wednesday that reasonable at
torney fees were $15,800.
McGaughey’s lawsuit alleged
sexual discrimination. She had worked
as manager of business and technol
ogy since October 1986 in what was
the UNL computer shop before it was
merged with the Computer Resource
Center.
Waggoner described her client’s
positions as “high responsibility, high
profile” — overseeing the university
computer system and technicians.
McGaughey also was on national and
regional advisory boards for IBM com
puters.
It was after officials denied her
attendance at one of the regional meet
ings in early 1990 that she went to the
affirmative action office, Waggoner
said.
McGaughey said the office
launched an investigation, but would
not comment on the findings. Her law
suit alleges the action is what prompted
officials to eliminate her managerial
position and transfer her to a lower
position with CRC.
But the incident involving the ad
visory meeting wasn’t the first time
McGaughey said she experienced dis
crimination. McGaughey said she
wasn’t comfortable talking about ev
erythingthat happened, but said work
ing conditions only got worse after her
reassignment.
In fact, McGaughey said, she wasn’t
told what her job duties were for al
most three years.
Waggoner said actions against
McGaughey included unequal pay and
relegating her to coordinating a news
letter and a few other projects.
McGaughey also put up with verbal
statements and actions that would con
stitute sexual harassment, she said.
“There was an aspect of harass
ment,” Wagonner said. “But harass
ment in a retaliatory manner more
than the traditional sexual harass
ment.”
Doug Gale, CRC director, would
not comment on the matter Thursday
night and referred all questions to NU
legal counsel.
John Wiltse, NU associate general
counsel, said the issue had been re
solved, and he was pleased with the
judge’s ruling.
Waggoner said she was consider
ing appealing Kopfs decision on
attorney’s fees. She wouldn’t com
ment on whether McGaughey would
have to make up the nearly $30,000
difference if the ruling remained final.
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Shooting incident brings
restaurant owner to court
From Staff Reports
A Lincoln restaurant owner charged
with shooting a patron in the face will
be arraigned on charges including at
tempted second-degree murder
Wednesday.
Terrance Ruppert, owner of
Grandpa’s Ribs and Special Sauce,
2630 Orchard St., is scheduled for
arraignment in Lancaster County Dis
trict Court on one attempted murder
charge and one count of use of a
; weapon to commit a felony. -
Ruppert, 35, allegedly shot Jason
Daniels in the face Jan. 25 with a .380
semi-automatic pistol. The shooting
occurred after a scuffle broke out among
several other patrons at the club.
Ruppert has been released on a
$75,000 property bond. In a docu
ment filed with the District Court,
Ruppert lists $91,000 in property as
collateral. Included in the list is the
restaurant, valued at $23,600, and his
$50,000 home.
The restaurant is now listed as be
ing for sale.
Lawsuit
Continued from Page 1
teaching and preforming his research
if reasonable accommodations to his
schedule and obligations would have
been made.
John Wiltse, NU associate general
counsel, said he didn’t think Radecki
had made any attempt to bring his
condition to the attention of adminis
trators.
Radecki refused comment Thurs
day night. His lawyer, Hunter
Campbell of Grand Island, did not
return Daily Nebraskan phone calls.
Among other things, Radecki al
leges ethnic slurs were made related
to his Polish ancestry, raises were
recalled, he was left out of department
matters, his course proposals were
repeatedly denied and he was rou
tinely awarded less money than other
professors to purchase computer
equipment.
Radecki alleges that Peters and
Keller denied his reappointment even
after faculty supported it.
Radecki asked Ae court for judge
ments of $1 million against each de
fendant on each count along with his
attorney fees.
David Buntain, a lawyer represent
ing UNL, said the defendants denied
all charges and maintained they did
nothing wrong. The $18 million
amount was a figure that would be
adj usted if the case got t o trial, he said.
There also was the question of
whether Radecki could recover dam
ages from individuals or only their
employers — in this case UNL, he
said.
“Right now, it appears he’s just
trying to get a judgement against who
ever he can,” Buntain said.
Budget
Continued from Page 1
crease” they voted in two years ago,
including higher levies on wealthy
Social Security recipients, he said.
Dole said Republicans soon would
propose a five-year plan to put the
budget on a path toward balance by
2002, without raising taxes or touch
ing Social Security.
Daschle said Democrats would
gladly join in the deficit-cutting ef
fort, but added, “It’s the Republicans
who are in the leadership here ... We
want to see what they’ve got.”
The impact was enormous on defi
cit-cutting efforts. With Social
Security’s trust-fund surplus excluded
from deficit calculations, Republicans
must find more than $500 billion in
additional cuts if they are to balance
the budget over seven years.
Ferguson
Continued from Page 1
has centered on 16th- and 17th-cen
tury feminism, slave women of the
Caribbean and their influences on the
anti-slavery movement in England.
Having been raised in Scotland and
with her interest in feminism, her
focus on the women of the Caribbean
was a logical step for her research
projects, Ferguson said.
“It was what I cared about—issues
of gender, race and class,” she said.
Her research into the women slave
writers of the Caribbean produced the
first known writings of a colonial slave
woman—Mary Prince.
The book that Ferguson wrote about
Prince, which just finished its fourth
press run, was made into a movie by
the BBC. Another anthology that
Ferguson put together is now widely
used in women’s studies curriculums
across the nation.
She said that from the time she was
the founding chairwoman of the UNL
Women’s Studies department in 1976,
she had maintained one ultimate goal
in her research: Bring it back to stu
dents.
“It always mattered to me that what
I was studying could come back to the
classroom,” she said. “I like research
to be active and circulating, not the
providence of a scholarly few.
“The more widely circulating my
research is, the more I like it.”
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