Update: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filing

Dear Friends,

I write to update you on an important matter.

Today, the University of Denver settled a legal matter filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, regarding compensation practices at our law school. 

One of our cornerstone commitments as a university is to be an academic community based on fairness, equity and merit. As a woman in higher education, I have been a part of the struggle to ensure equity at every institution I’ve served—this is lifelong personal work that I continue as the Chancellor of DU.

DU undertook the settlement process with great seriousness, deliberation and care for all involved. While confident in our legal position, we made this decision because of a strong desire to heal our community and move forward together. We believe this settlement will allow us to collectively focus on a present and a future in which the law school—and the DU community as a whole—can unite under our common values of equity, integrity and opportunity.

Always mindful of the University’s finances, we also made this decision in order to focus our resources, time and attention on the initiatives that will make our university, our law school and our community stronger, rather than on expensive litigation. We were able to reach a settlement that will not affect scholarships, financial aid or day-to-day university operations.

Thanks to many of you, we have made strong progress becoming a more inclusive community built on mutual respect and understanding of our individual life experiences. Still, we recognize that our work continues and we all must be vigilant and active participants to ensure that we continue to live our values.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Chopp

Chancellor