University of Washington Pays $600,000 to Professor After Losing Land Acknowledgment Fight
The yearslong saga over Professor Stuart Reges’s parody land acknowledgment has reached its end, with a $600,000 settlement from the University of Washington.
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Conflict between Reges and the university began on January 3, 2022, when UW’s computer science department encouraged faculty to acknowledge that they were occupying Coast Salish Indigenous lands in their syllabi. Reges instead included, “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 next day, department director Magdalena Balazinska ordered Reges to take the statement off his syllabus, saying it was “inappropriate,” “offensive,” and “toxic.” When Reges refused, the university created a video-recorded alternative to his class and launched an investigation into whether he violated their harassment policy.
Reges filed suit seven months later in U.S. district court. After the district court judge ruled in favor of the University of Washington in 2024, Reges and his legal team from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression appealed to the Ninth Circuit. Last December, the Ninth Circuit appellate panel reversed the district court’s decision, ruling that student discomfort did not justify censoring protected speech.
Following news of the settlement, Reges said in a statement, “I am deeply grateful to FIRE for this legal victory which will remind public universities that they are obligated to respect the First Amendment rights of their students, faculty, and staff.”
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He said he hopes the ruling will also help reverse “a decade-long trend towards ideological conformity in academia.”
Meanwhile, the University of Washington has maintained that administrators “acted appropriately” through the whole process, and the settlement is “in no way an admission of any wrongdoing.”
“Given the Ninth Circuit’s 2-1 decision overturning the federal district court’s decision in favor of the University, a settlement agreement was the most reasonable option due to the attorney fees and costs that would have resulted from the Ninth’s Circuit’s decision. Prof. Reges has retained his faculty position and continued teaching throughout this process, and his status with the UW remains unchanged,” the university said in a statement to Geek Wire.
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