College cheerleader settles with Georgia for $145K over anthem protest backlash

The state of Georgia has reportedly agreed to pay $145,000 to a former university cheerleader and her attorneys after cheerleaders were removed from the field over their decision to kneel in protest of police brutality in 2017. 

Former Kennesaw State University (KSU) cheerleader Tommia Dean and a representative for Georgia’s Department of Administrative Services signed a settlement agreement in October, according to The Marietta Daily Journal, which obtained the agreement Wednesday. 

The department reportedly agreed to pay $93,000 to Dean and nearly $52,000 to her lawyers. 

The newspaper reported that the agreement said it “shall not be deemed in any manner an admission, finding, conclusion, evidence or indication for any purposes whatsoever, that the KSU defendants acted contrary to the law or otherwise violated the rights of Dean.”

Dean has said that she and other cheerleaders were cut from the team after kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality in 2017. The university later allowed them to return to the team. 

Dean said in a lawsuit last year that her rights were violated. She also claimed that complaints about the protests were racially motivated, but a judge did not find this to be true.