Conservative professor promised $2.4M in lawsuit settlement

The Kern Neighborhood Faculty District can pay former Bakersfield Faculty professor Matthew Garrett $2.4 million underneath a current settlement settlement.

Garrett, beforehand a tenured historical past professor, sued district directors in 2021, alleging they retaliated in opposition to him for accusing colleagues of utilizing grant cash for partisan social justice work.

The district Board of Trustees voted to fireside him final yr after interim president Zav Dadabhoy submitted a 19-page report of costs in opposition to Garrett, together with unprofessional conduct. Garrett, a founding father of the conservative-leaning college group Renegade Institute for Liberty, pushed again, saying he was being penalized for espousing his views, together with questioning range, fairness and inclusion work on campus.

Within the settlement, Garrett agreed to resign from the school, however he’ll obtain an extra $154,520 for again wages and medical advantages since his dismissal. The district may also withdraw and seal all of its 2023 costs in opposition to Garrett, in addition to any earlier paperwork that indicate misconduct. The settlement says the settlement isn’t “an admission of any wrongdoing or legal responsibility by both the District or Garrett.”

The Kern Neighborhood Faculty District confirmed it “settled all points with Matthew Garrett” in a press release to Inside Larger Ed.

“Matthew Garrett has voluntarily resigned from his employment and all litigation on this matter has been resolved,” the assertion learn. “KCCD believes the settlement is in one of the best curiosity of the District and permits us to give attention to the longer term and proceed to ship high quality greater training for college students of Kern County with none additional authorized distractions. As it is a confidential personnel matter, we won’t remark additional.”

Garrett advised The Faculty Repair that the district had no selection however to settle.

“Dealing with an imminent ruling in my favor and the prospect of paying thousands and thousands of {dollars} in damages, KCCD had just one viable choice: settlement,” Garrett stated in an e-mail. “To my colleagues at Bakersfield Faculty and nationwide, I say: Preserve the religion; we’re profitable the battle, one case at a time.”