'Water Buffalo' Case Settled

PHILADELPHIA, Penn.-The "water buffalo" saga is finally over.

Eden Jacobowitz, who garnered national attention in 1993 when he faced racial-harassment charges for yelling, "Shut up, you water buffalo," to a group of African American women outside his high-rise window, has settled his 1996 lawsuit against the University.

The University admitted no wrongdoing and paid Jacobowitz nothing in settling the lawsuit, according to General Counsel Shelley Green.

She said the University did pay Jacobowitz's attorney, Edward Rubenstone, "under $10,000" to cover part of Jacobowitz's fees and expenses.

"He dropped [the suit]," Green said.

Rubenstone said that he was "not particularly" satisfied with the settlement, but Jacobowitz-who has just begun his first year at the Fordham University Law School in New York-stressed that "it's very nice to know it's over".

"It was an incredibly annoying, nagging incident that shouldn't have lasted longer than an hour. Instead, it took four or five years," the 23-year-old said.

Jacobowitz sued the University in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court in February 1996 for $50,000, alleging that the University inflicted emotional distress and violated its contract with him.