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Jose Riera says he was wrongly accused of racial profiling, not asked to tell his side of the story 

A former Central Washington University professor who was fired after calling the police on a black colleague when mistaking her for a “confused” person in distress recently filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court.

The lawsuit alleges defamation, wrongful termination, and free speech infringements by the public university, its President Jim Wohlpart, and several other university employees.

Jose Riera, a non-tenured former professor in the Department of Information Technology and Administrative Management, alleges he suffered harm and “extreme emotional distress” after being publicly accused of racism, according to a copy of the lawsuit reviewed by The College Fix.

The lawsuit states he was terminated in retaliation for what he believes was a reasonable assumption that a person was distressed on CWU’s campus and police needed to be notified of the situation.

“Because this is a pending legal matter, CWU does not wish to comment at this time,” a university spokesperson told The Fix when contacted about the lawsuit.

The other parties named in the lawsuit either did not respond or referred The Fix to the university media relations when asked about the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, a campus legal expert told The Fix the allegations raise “serious due process and free speech issues.”

“Professors should not be punished by the universities for requesting good faith welfare checks,” Zachary Greenberg, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said.

“Universities can best balance safety and inclusivity by respecting the boundaries set by the First Amendment. These boundaries define the limits between protected expression and unprotected misconduct, which allows universities to protect the expression of political views and ensure campus safety by addressing true threats, substantial disruption, and discriminatory harassment,” Greenberg told The Fix in a recent email.

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In the lawsuit, Riera stated he noticed a suspicious woman April 1 while walking on campus. He described her as appearing “confused” and distressed.

Riera said a university policy that states, “if you see something, say something,” prompted him to call the campus police. When officers arrived, they requested that the woman identify herself, according to the suit.

The woman was then identified as Bobby Cummings, an 80-year-old blind African American professor and director of the university’s Africana and Black Studies program. Riera alleges in his lawsuit that he had never heard of Cummings before and did not know of her race when he reported her to campus police.

After campus police informed Riera of the woman’s identity and assured him that she was safe, he felt relieved and “thought nothing further about the matter,” the lawsuit states.

However, Cummings allegedly reported Riera to university President Wohlpart and accused him of racial profiling. Wohlpart then asked interim Vice President of DEI Lucinda Carnell to talk to Riera about the incident, according to the case.

During a meeting, Riera said Carnell accused him of racism, failed to ask for his side of the story, and told him to draft an apology to Cummings, the case alleges.

Later, on April 3, Wohlpart made a statement addressing the incident at a faculty senate meeting, calling Riera’s action “unacceptable,” according to the lawsuit. The meeting was livestreamed and recordings were available publicly on the university website, the case states.

Riera said he was “stunned” by the accusations, being Latino himself and “deeply committed to racial equality.” He said the allegations were emotionally distressing and resulted in extreme anxiety, according to the lawsuit.

He requested and, two days later, was granted medical leave related to stress and anxiety caused by the aftermath of the incident, the case alleges.

However, as the university was approving the request, the lawsuit alleges Dean of the College of Education Sathyanarayanan Rajendran decided to put Riera on paid administrative leave instead, “pending an investigation into the alleged act of racial profiling,” the case states.

At the end of the day, Riera said he was informed of the decision and told he was no longer allowed on university property “pending the investigation,” the lawsuit alleges.

On April 8, President Wohlpart sent a letter to the entire campus about “an incident” involving an “employee,” a “most esteemed” colleague, and campus police, according to the case.

“As a university, we will be placing a stronger emphasis on bias training,” the president wrote. “While this work will help us live more fully into our vision and mission, we deeply regret the incident and its impact on our colleague and university community.”

However, the lawsuit alleges Riera was never asked for his side of the story and “no investigation took place.”

“CWU was not interested in the truth but, rather, the opportunity to leverage the incident to advance its standing among diversity and inclusivity groups,” the lawsuit alleges. “It did so by ratifying rumor mill gossip, fanning the flames of racial division, and identifying Riera as the catalyst while publicly proclaiming its abhorrence for such conduct.”

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