The 9th Circuit Upholds a University of Washington Professor's Right to Mock 'Land Acknowledgments'

A decade ago, the University of Washington (U.W.) adopted an official statement that "acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations." Four years later, the Seattle university's Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering began recommending that instructors include that statement in their syllabi.

Stuart Reges, a critic of such "land acknowledgments" who had taught an introductory computer science course, CSE 143, in that school since 2004, responded with a syllabus statement mocking the concept: "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." That parody resulted in an internal investigation, a reprimand, and threats of disciplinary action. Those responses violated the professor's First Amendment rights, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled last Friday in Reges v. Cauce.