AROUND HIGHER EDUCATION: BU student paper loses suit

The Daily Free Press BOSTON (U-WIRE) -- A Suffolk County, Mass., Superior Court jury on Monday ordered The Daily Free Press to pay a former employee nearly $163,000, saying the Boston University student newspaper was discriminatory when firing her in 1994. After deliberating for about six hours, jurors ruled that part of the reason office manager Karen Miranda was fired was because she had cervical cancer. Miranda hugged her lawyer after hearing the verdict, saying, "Thank you for everything." Miranda was awarded $53,900 in wage compensation and $109,000 for emotional distress. The Free Press will not stop printing as a result of the judgement, said editor Gene Johnson, a BU senior. But the Free Press may have to consider declaring bankruptcy. The company has about $140,000 in cash. The Free Press is owned by Back Bay Publishing Company, a non-profit corporation run by Boston University students. Free Press attorney Mike Field said that $109,000 for emotional damages is excessive and that he will ask the judge to lower the award. "We think the emotional damages are not justified by the evidence," he said. Jurors determined that Miranda was fired in part, but not solely, because of her illness. They cited what Field described as "mixed motives" behind her dismissal. "The jury found that many of the reasons were not based on discrimination, but some of the reasons given for her dismissal were discriminatory," Field said. Witnesses for the Free Press said Miranda was fired because she gave out free advertising after being told not to, was condescending to staff members and screamed at advertisers. The office manager is the paper's only full-time, paid employee. Miranda was hired in late May 1994, diagnosed with cancer in August and fired in November.