ASU professor wins arbitration case over police training

An arbitrator has found in favor of a controversial Arizona State University professor in his battle with the city of Phoenix over a training program for police officers.

The city sued Matthew C. Whitaker for breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation after he developed a training program for Phoenix police in 2015. The city later sued, seeking a refund of $21,900 Whitaker had been paid for preparing the presentation, alleging it contained reformatted material taken from the Chicago Police Department.

The arbitrator found in favor of Whitaker on all counts, according to documents filed in Maricopa County Superior Court.

“Dr. Whitaker did not plagiarize anything. Dr. Whitaker provided quality training for a reasonable price, and yet the city sued him. That’s just wrong,” said Whitaker’s attorney, Jeffrey Silence.

The arbitrator’s decision, if it stands, would mean Whitaker’s company, the Whitaker Group, doesn’t have to return the money and also would receive reimbursement for attorneys’ fees. That amount has not yet been determined.

Whitaker, a well-known speaker and author, focuses on African-American history, civil rights and racial equality.

The city’s objections to the contract came to a head in 2015, amid a separate set of plagiarism allegations.

Whitaker had been accused of academic plagiarism in 2011. He denied the claims and was cleared by an inquiry that found no substantial problems. But a second inquiry in 2015 found “significant issues with the content” of a book he had written, and the university demoted him from professor to associate professor. Whitaker issued an apology saying he had failed “to properly paraphrase and cite sources.”

At the time, Whitaker’s company had just secured a $268,800 contract to provide cultural-awareness training for Phoenix police. After news of the ASU demotion, a City Council member called for ending the contract, saying the city had been misled about Whitaker’s qualifications. Whitaker defended the training, saying it had been well-received by the police and the community, but canceled the remainder of the deal.

The city later demanded a refund of $21,900 for the time Whitaker spent preparing the presentation, leading to the suit. But the arbitrator wrote that there was no evidence Whitaker was hiding the fact that the training materials came from the Chicago Police Department, though there was evidence to show the materials “may not have been sufficiently credited” to Chicago police.

The arbitrator noted that the presentation prepared for Phoenix police contained various anecdotes that went beyond what was in the Chicago police materials. “Witnesses testified to the fact that Whitaker spent much time organizing, preparing for, and rehearsing for the training,” arbitrator Sarah L. Jones wrote in her decision.

Whitaker, through his attorney, declined to comment on the matter, but in a statement posted on social media, he wrote, “I am pleased to announce I have been vindicated.”

The city’s claims “caused significant damage to my career and reputation,” he wrote. “Many people know me to be an earnest, passionate, and devoted steward of education, civic engagement, and inter-cultural unity. Their confidence in me has been affirmed. Now I continue the work to which I have placed my hands, which has persisted despite disruption and hardship, unfettered by this injurious case. This work is needed now more than ever.”

Silence, Whitaker’s attorney, said he hopes the city does the right thing and “leaves Dr. Whitaker alone.”

Julie Watters, a spokeswoman for the city of Phoenix, said that the city is “aware of the arbitrator’s opinion and our legal team is currently assessing all of our options.”

Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio, who led the investigation into Whitaker’s training program, said the city should continue the fight and reject the arbitrator’s decision, adding that taxpayers were “ripped off.” “He took someone else’s work, called it his own and then billed the city,” DiCiccio said.

The university announced in January 2016 that Whitaker agreed to resign after the spring 2017 term but would continue to be paid more than $200,000 in salary.