A California community college district agreed to pay $2.4 million to a conservative professor in a recent settlement agreement after years of legal battles between the two parties.

“After five years of administrative misconduct, a decisive courtroom display exonerated me of all allegations and exposed that Kern Community College District engaged in flagrant retaliation for my questioning of partisan policies and wasteful expenditures,” Matthew Garrett reacted in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Facing an imminent ruling in my favor and the prospect of paying millions of dollars in damages, KCCD had only one viable option: settlement.”