Trustees Settle Suit by President of Irvine Valley

The South Orange County Community College District has settled a lawsuit brought by the president of one of its colleges.

District trustees voted 5-0 last month to pay Raghu Mathur, president of Irvine Valley College, $36,000 to reimburse him for his legal fees from another lawsuit.

Trustees David Lang and Donald Wagner abstained.

Nearly a year ago, a judge threw out Mathur’s lawsuit that claimed a professor and a former administrator had violated his privacy by publishing documents from his personnel file. The judge ordered Mathur to pay the legal fees of philosophy professor Roy Bauer and former vice president of instruction Terry Burgess.

Mathur paid the two a total of $32,000. It was not clear why the district paid Mathur $4,000 more.

Mathur sued the district, saying it had failed to keep his file confidential, leading to “a hostile work environment.”

“At this time the president is really pleased the matter has been resolved,” said Mark Godding, a spokesman for the college. Mathur could not be reached for comment.