(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa has settled a lawsuit with the former Assistant Vice President and Student Health Director who sued the university for age discrimination. Shelley O’Connell saw her pay cut 50-thousand dollars in 2024 and she was given a new job title. Her lawyer Jill Zwagerman says O’Connell believed the university did wrong her, but wanted to resolve the conflict amicably.

“We’re always open to settlement, because if the parties can agree, that’s just better for both sides, if they can come up with a resolution that they get to control, as opposed to putting it in the hands of a jury, and you don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen,” Zwagerman says. U-N-I has agreed to pay O’Connell more than 133-thousand dollars in lost wages and non-wage payments and O’Connell has agreed to retire.

“She still is very supportive of the university, and she didn’t want her bad experience with the demotion to weigh that down, and so settlement just seemed to be a better option,” she says. O’Connell has worked at U-N-I for more than two decades and says she was in good standing before the pay cut and demotion.