A university internal auditor who told federal investigators about Western Washington University’s use of “ghost courses,” and was later fired by the school, was awarded nearly $3 million in damages this week for whistleblower retaliation.
Antonia Allen, former director of WWU’s Office of the Internal Auditor, sued the university in December 2020 after she was fired for reporting that staff and faculty at the Woodring College of Education systemically falsified attendance records for students who never showed up to classes so that those students could continue receiving federal financial aid. The fraudulent courses were revealed in a 2020 Seattle Times investigation, along with what another auditor who left voluntarily described as a “culture of fear” at WWU.