A conservative professor lost his tenure when he was fired by a community college in California last year, but now he’s won a $2.4 million settlement against the school.
Matthew Garrett, a former professor at Bakersfield College, was fired in April of 2023 for engaging in “unlawful activity against faculty” as well as “unprofessional conduct” that fostered an environment that was “unsafe” for minority students, according to the school.
These allegations were handed down as Garrett was the co-founder of a group called Renegade Institute for Liberty (RIL), which brought together professors who didn’t fall in line with the left-wing beliefs of the school.
In firing him, the school claimed that he defended vandalism on campus that was racist, violated social distancing protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic by holding in-person events, filed complaints against fellow faculty members that were baseless, sent emails to the board president of Kern Community College that was threatening, and also made “inflammatory” posts on social media from the RIL regarding the more than $200,000 that the school spent in 2021-22 on its Umoja Community African-American Success through Excellence and Persistence Program.
Garrett always said those charges, which were sourced from anonymous people, were unsubstantiated and downright false. As he said:
“If you start to really look at them one by one, they’re really just flimsy sorts of allegations, but it can be overwhelming to someone who doesn’t know the context. The idea that they can tamp down discussion by simply labeling things dishonest, unprofessional or immoral in order to circumvent the First Amendment protections and to mischaracterize me as some sort of horrible person is really disturbing.”
During a meeting of the KCCD board, it was decided that Garrett should be fired. He responded by filing a lawsuit, which he ultimately won via settlement this week.
The settlement will see him get more than $2.4 million from the school over the next 20 years, which gives him back wages and benefits. His complaint records were amended and sealed, and he also agreed to resign his position with the school.
Officials from the school didn’t admit fault as part of the settlement, saying it was worth paying that amount to have Garrett gone.
The former professor, though, said that the settlement is a victory for campus free speech.
As he said:
“After five years of administrative misconduct, a decisive courtroom display exonerated me of all allegations and exposed that Kern Community College District engaged in flagrant retaliation for my questioning of partisan policies and wasteful expenditures. Facing an imminent ruling in my favor and the prospect of paying millions of dollars in damages, KCCD had only one viable option: settlement. I am grateful to the many who stood by my side during this difficult time and invite them to join in our triumph.
“To my colleagues at Bakersfield College and nationwide, I say: Keep the faith; we are winning the battle, one case at a time.”
