Steven Salaita and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have reached a settlement. According to a November 12 press release from the Center for Constitutional Rights, which helped represent him, Salaita will receive $875,000 from UIUC, or $600,000 sans legal fees. The UIUC has already spent $1.3 million in its own defense. All told, this effort to silence an outspoken critic of Israel has cost the university nearly two and a half million dollars.

Many of us had hoped that a settlement would include Steven getting his job back. For his sake and ours: to vindicate principles we all hold dear. I would be less than honest if I didn’t say I was disappointed.

But while this was a major battle for principle, there was a person at the heart of that battle: Steven. Since he first got the news of his firing, he and his family have been through hell. A protracted legal battle would invariably have been long and difficult, its outcome uncertain.