California State University, Northridge has settled a lawsuit brought by a former employee, who sued the university after claiming that it fired him over his creationist beliefs.
Mark Armitage was sacked from his position as manager of the biology department鈥檚 electron and confocal microscopy suite in 2013, two weeks after he published a paper about a triceratops horn, which he believed was just 4,000 years old and offered proof of his young-Earth creationist beliefs, according to .
The following year, Mr Armitage sued the university claiming that faculty scientists did not want to be associated with a published creationist.
The university told Inside Higher Ed that its decision to not renew Mr Armitage鈥檚 contract was based on 鈥渂udgetary considerations and a dwindling need for his services鈥 and it settled the lawsuit for $399,500 (拢322,500) to avoid the costs involved in a protracted legal battle.
It added that a large proportion of the settlement would cover Mr Armitage鈥檚 legal fees.
A Mr Armitage published about the settlement on 1 October claims that he has been 鈥渧indicated by the [Los Angeles] courts鈥 and his research 鈥渟tands head and shoulders above all the other work that鈥檚 been found so far in soft tissue in dinosaur bones鈥.
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