UW settles land acknowledgment parody fight for $600K
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Stuart Reges. Photo: Twinkle Don’t Blink/Courtesy of FIRE
The University of Washington will pay $600,000 to settle a four-year First Amendment fight with a computer science professor who parodied the school's Indigenous land acknowledgment practices.
Why it matters: The settlement ends a closely watched academic free speech case and follows a 9th U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that UW violated professor Stuart Reges' First Amendment rights.
What they're saying: "I find it absurd that the university can't come up with anything they might have done wrong," Reges told Axios Friday.
- He pointed to UW's claim that his conduct had driven a student to leave the university. The appeals court said the student apparently didn't exist and accused UW of relying on "phantom evidence of disruption."
- In a statement to GeekWire, UW maintains it acted appropriately and said the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.
Catch up quick: The dispute began in 2022 after UW's Allen School encouraged — but didn't require — faculty to include a land acknowledgment in their syllabi.
- Reges instead wrote: "I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington."
- The statement invoked philosopher John Locke's theory that property rights are established through labor.
- After students complained, UW removed the statement from Reges' online syllabus, opened a nearly yearlong investigation and created an alternative section of his course.
The bottom line: Under the settlement announced Thursday by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which represented Reges, UW will pay $600,000 in damages, attorneys' fees and costs, per the settlement.
- UW also agreed "in perpetuity" not to remove the parody from Reges' current or future syllabi — or investigate him, create competing or "shadow" sections of his courses or withhold future salary increases because of the statement or complaints about it.