Negotiations are under way to settle a lawsuit filed by a former president of the University of Tennessee, John Shumaker, who says the state owes him as much as $1.7-million, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. Mr. Shumaker resigned in August 2003, after only 14 months on the job, amid allegations of financial and ethical impropriety. In the lawsuit, he maintains that he stepped down after being promised that he would receive a severance pay package valued at $422,956. The lawsuit contends that Mr. Shumaker is entitled to the severance pay or the value of his original employment contract, which would be $1.7-million. —Jeffrey Selingo