Accusing University Lecturer Who Called Police of “Blatant Racial Profiling” Leads to $37,500 Defamation Verdict

A jury awarded a Central Washington University lecturer $37,500 in a defamation case over a colleague’s claim that a campus incident was “blatant racial profiling”. The verdict matters because the court had allowed the claim to proceed, finding a jury could interpret the phrase as accusing the lecturer of intentionally targeting a Black professor.

The lecturer had called campus police about an older woman he described as apparently homeless; an officer identified her as a CWU professor, and no further action followed. A faculty senate member later circulated notes saying police had been called because a person of colour was sitting in a building lobby and had been made to show ID. The court said a common-interest privilege could apply to faculty communications, but could be lost if the speaker acted outside their work or with reckless disregard for the truth.