The first black woman to serve as American University’s student government president won a lawsuit Friday against a neo-Nazi website operator who orchestrated an online harassment campaign against her.
A federal judge granted default judgment to Taylor Dumpson and awarded her more than $725,000 after The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin and a follower failed to respond to her lawsuit.
The judge awarded Dumpson compensatory damages of $101,429.28, punitive damages of $500,000, and attorneys’ fees and costs of $124,022.10. The judge also entered a restraining order against Anglin, his Moonbase Holdings limited liability company, and Brian Andrew Ade.
After Dumpson became student government president in 2017, someone hung nooses with bananas containing derogatory messages on the university’s campus. Anglin posted an article about the incident and directed followers to “troll storm” Dumpson on social media.
“This ruling should send a strong message to other white supremacists that they can and will be held accountable for hateful activity that constitutes unlawful discrimination, no matter whether it occurs online or in the real world,” said Kristen Clarke, the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The organization represented Dumpson in the case.