A professor at Iowa State University has been placed on modified job duties for the summer semester following a complaint he filed against the university for alleged discrimination.

Associate Professor Sidner Larson of the ISU Department of English has agreed to fully resign from his job duties effective August 14. The agreement between the university and Larson is in response to a complaint filed by Larson with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that the university “engaged in discriminatory conduct against him”.

In the separation agreement posted on April 8 by the Board of Regents, Larson accepted the university’s offer to drop all accusations in return for a compensation package totaling almost $53,000.

This amount includes compensation for a “Special Project” Larson has been working on for the university. Upon successful and timely completion of his project, which involves a review of three to five AIS projects in the United States, Larson will be granted emeritus status from the university so long as he does not violate University policy now or at any point in the future.

The agreement states that Larson has forfeited all rights to sue the university for events occurring prior to signing the agreement. It is also required that Larson “honor the no-contact restrictions prohibiting Larson from interacting with individuals specified in the no-contact restrictions through the remaining term of his employment”.

Larson is the author of two books as well as numerous articles concerning American-Indian Studies and has been employed with Iowa State since August 2000.

Both sides clarify that the agreement does not serve as an admission of wrongdoing by either party. Larson and President Leath have not responded to the ISD at this point in time.