KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee is paying $2.48 million to settle a lawsuit filed by eight unidentified women who said the schl had violated Title IX regulations and created a hostile sexual environment through a policy of indifference toward assaults by athletes.Lawyers for the schl and the plaintiffs issued a joint press release Tuesday announcing the settlement.We are satisfied that, while universities everywhere struggle with these issues, the University of Tennessee has made significant progress in the way they educate and respond to sexual assault cases, said David Randolph Smith, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs. My clients and I are also convinced that the Universitys leadership is truly committed to continue its exemplary efforts to create a model as it relates to sexual misconduct.Tennessees athletic department and the schls central administration will split the cost of the settlement. According to the release announcing the settlement, no taxpayer dollars, student fees or donor funds would be used to fund the settlement, and the funding instead will come from other income-generating activities within the university.Tennessee chancellor Jimmy Cheek said he will sn announce a new series of initiatives on campus to improve its Title IX efforts, including additional support and budgeting specifically in areas related to sexual assault, student conduct, education programming and student well-being. UT president Joe DiPietro said he would appoint an independent commission to review existing programs make recommendations addressing the issues of sexual assault and misconduct.No university will be able to prevent every incident of students, faculty or staff making bad judgments, Cheek said in a statement. Like many institutions we are not perfect, but our goal is to continue to be the best we can be at creating awareness, educating, and preventing discrimination and abuse in any form, and to continue to be equally prepared when it does happen and to deal with it promptly, sensitively, fairly and effectively.Weve come a long way in recent years, and we are working every day to be even better. Our first priority is the safety and well-being of every member of our University community.The announcement of the settlement comes two weeks after Cheek announced he would step down as chancellor to return to teaching. Cheeks move wont become effective until a successor is appointed. When he announced the move last month, Cheek said it was a personal decision unrelated to the Title IX suit.According to the release, negotiations toward a settlement began in earnest in April. The case wasnt scheduled to go to trial until 2018, and the release noted that the cost to litigate the case all the way to trial could have cost as much as $5.5 million. As of June 8, the state had paid over $220,000 in legal fees associated with the lawsuit.The release also noted that the schl is not admitting guilt, negligence or unlawful acts as part of the settlement.Six women filed the suit in federal court in Nashville on Feb. 9. Two more plaintiffs added their names to an amended complaint two weeks later. The original complaint referenced incidents dating back to 1995 to show how the schl has historically handled reports of player misconduct, and one paragraph mentioned a sexual harassment complaint made by a Tennessee trainer in 1996 that included an incident involving recently retired quarterback Peyton Manning, who was playing for Tennessee at the time.The amended complaint included a statement from former Tennessee ftball player Drae Bowles in which he said he assisted a woman who said she had been raped by two other players and that he later was attacked by teammates and told by ftball coach Butch Jones that he had betrayed the team. When the document was filed, Jones responded by saying the assertion that I ever attempted to belittle or demean a young man for taking action to help another person is absolutely false.Tennessee reacted to the lawsuit by bringing all its head coaches together for a February press conference in which they defended the culture of the athletic department. Athletic director Dave Hart made similar remarks at a separate press conference two days later.No athletic officials commented Tuesday night, but the release announcing the settlement included statements from Cheek, DiPietro and Tennessee Board of Trustees vice chair Raja Jubran.Settling this case was the right thing to do from a compassionate perspective for the young women involved and from a reputation perspective for the institution, regardless of the merits of the case, Jubran said. One side ultimately would have won in court several years from now, and we felt confident about our legal position, but I truly believe that both sides would have lost.The intangible costs of emotional stress to those involved and the distraction to all of our positive progress at UT, over and above actual legal costs, would have been exorbitant.Title IX is a federal statute that bans discrimination at schls that receive federal funding. The U.S. Department of Education in 2011 warned schls of their legal responsibilities to immediately investigate allegations of sexual assault, even if the criminal investigation has not concluded. Jets Jerseys China . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very gd match -- I was playing really gd tennis," Radwanska said. 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The U.S. finished with 46 gold medals and 121 medals overall, its 51-total-medal margin over second-place China the largest in a non-boycotted Olympics in nearly a century.This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me, said U.S. gymnast and closing ceremony flagbearer Simone Biles, who won five medals, four of them gold, in her first Olympics.For the fourth consecutive games, U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps left with more medals than anyone else. He won six in Rio, while Biles and U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky each won five to lead to lead a big haul from American women.U.S. women left Rio with 27 golds -- by far the most among any team of female Olympians at these games -- and 61 medals total. U.S. track star Allyson Felix, now a six-time gold medalist and a winner of nine medals in all, was particularly delighted to learn that women are bringing more medals home to American than the men.Got `em, Felix said, smiling.By now, the Americans winning the medal race is almost commonplace. But the significance in Rio were the sheer amounts of hardware.The previous record for U.S. medals at a fully attended Olympics was 110, set at Beijing eight years ago. And the margin between first and second in the overall medals race this year tops all others (the boycotted games of 1980 and 1984 excluded) since the Americans won 67 more medals than Italy did at the 1932 Los Angeles Games.We werent sure we were going to have that kind of success coming in, said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun, noting the track and swimming teams had plenty of first-time Olympians.But Blackmun was thrilled by the results, and he wasnt the only one lleaving Rio happy.ddddddddddddEven with far fewer athletes competing in Rio than it had in London four years ago -- and no home-field advantage this time, either -- Britain got more medals than ever in the modern games. The British won 67 medals in Rio, 27 of them gold.The atmosphere at the GB house has been amazing in the village, said Mo Farah, who won gold for Britain in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races to match the feat he pulled off at London in 2012. Winning medals and just one after the other. Gold, silver, bronze. The atmosphere has been brilliant. To be able to go even further than London, I think as a nation we should be proud.The Russians and the Chinese probably didnt feel the same.China won 26 golds, just over half as many as it won in Beijing in 2008. Russia -- with its track team told to stay home because of the doping probe and a cloud hovering over its athletes who were in Rio, some of whom got publicly called out by competitors -- finished with 19 golds and 56 medals overall, both well below its normal showings.U.S. swimmer Lilly King beat Russias Yulia Efimova for the 100-meter breaststroke gold, doing so after saying the games should have no rm for dopers. Efimova has twice been banned.I stand by what I said, King said.It was not positive, Efimova told the BBC. It was like war.There were plenty of positives for others, however.Usain Bolt finished off his triple-triple -- three Olympics, three sprint golds in each -- for Jamaica, in what he said was his last games. Neymars game-winning penalty kick decided a shtout and clinched the mens soccer gold medal for Brazil, a host that wasnt a factor in the medal standings but got the gold that it probably wanted most.And 10 teams -- including the independent team -- won their first golds, including Monica Puig in womens tennis for Puerto Rico.That island has given me so much, Puig said. So much love and support throughout my career and I just wanted this one for them. ' ' '