CIVIL LAWSUIT: FIRED TEACHER, SEMO REACH TENTATIVE PACT

Southeast Missouri State University and the former director of its earthquake center have reached a tentative settlement in a civil suit.

Diane Howard, the school's attorney, said Wednesday that the lawsuit's plaintiff, David Stewart, and school officials have reviewed the proposed settlement.

Neither side has signed the agreement yet, but next week's scheduled trial in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court in Jackson has been canceled.

Howard said a settlement could be finalized by next week. Both sides are expected to jointly announce the settlement in a prepared statement. Terms of the settlement have yet to be disclosed.

The settlement would bring an end to the 4-year-old lawsuit.

Stewart first filed the lawsuit in October 1994. He withdrew the suit in February 1997 and later that month refiled it so he would have more time to prepare for trial.

Stewart, who lives in Marble Hill, directed the earthquake center and taught science courses at Southeast. He was fired by the university in the aftermath of an earthquake prediction controversy.

Stewart said he was forced to resign as director of the center on Dec. 11, 1990. He was terminated as a faculty member in May 1993.

In his lawsuit, Stewart sought to be rehired as an associate professor of geosciences and director of the earthquake center. He also asked for tenure and back pay.

Stewart said he was fired because of his public comments on climatologist Iben Browning's controversial prediction of the possibility of a major earthquake occurring in December 1990 along the New Madrid Fault.

Stewart was the sole seismologist to lend credence to Browning's forecast. When the earthquake didn't occur, both Stewart and Browning were strongly criticized.

Stewart claimed the issue was one of academic freedom; university officials have denied it.

School officials have said Stewart was a probationary faculty member who was denied tenure and ultimately terminated because he wasn't making satisfactory progress as a teacher.