Cedar Rapids Gazette: Iowa State University has agreed to pay a former professor and lab director $275,000 as part of a settlement stemming from years of accusations both from her and against her — including that her department chair and his domestic partner made unwanted sexual advances toward her. “We engaged the system in good faith,” former ISU professor and researcher Birdie Shirtcliff told the Gazette. “And now, on the other side of it, what we realize is that the internal systems and checks and balances are designed very much to silence the victim and to support the perpetrators.” In a statement, ISU disputed “all of Dr. Shirtcliff’s claims against the university and its employees.”