ST. LOUIS, Mo. – A white former professor at the historically black Harris-Stowe State University won a nearly $5 million verdict after the court agreed she was fired because of her race.

Beverly Wilkins filed the discrimination lawsuit in 2012 and singled out administrator Latisha Smith, a black faculty member accused of instilling a “Black Power” mantra in the university’s college of education, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports.

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The lawsuit pointed out that Wilkins was hired by the University in 2001, and Smith came in 2007, but was quickly promoted through the ranks to ultimately serve as dean of the education college. Smith dismissed Wilkins in 2010, citing state budget cuts, but then hired black professors at an increased cost.

“They hired a new professor to teach some of the same course my client was teaching, and they paid the new professor more,” Wilkins’ attorney, Michael Meyers, told the news site.

The school also hired another part time instructor to cover Wilkins’ classes, which meant the school was ultimately paying about $23,000 more than the professor’s salary to replace her.

Wilkins claimed the university systematically purged other white professors from the school during the same time, and deleted emails to cover it up.

In one email that was recovered, a black professor at the school spoke out against Smith’s blatant discrimination against white employees. That professor, however, was threatened with her job for highlighting the problem.

“I am floored to know that we have an interim leader that has voiced her prejudice so openly to me and others,” the email read. “This flagrant prejudice should not be tolerated or accepted.”

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Wilkins’ lawsuit claims a Harris-Stowe official told the instructor “not to press these complaints or her ability to obtain tenure would be jeopardized.”

“Wilkins says every white professor at the school was ultimately let go, except for one protected by tenure,” the Daily Caller reports. “Meanwhile, only one black professor was let go, and it was due to a sex crime conviction.”

On Friday, a jury awarded Wilkins $3.5 million in punitive damages, and another $1.35 million for lost wages and emotional distress, though the payout must still get the judge’s approval, the Dispatch reports.

“Ronald Norwood, chairman of the Harris-Stowe State University Board of Regents, called the ruling ‘regrettable’ in a statement, and said the university was dedicated to moving forward with key leadership changes,” Inside Higher Ed reports.

Neither Wilkins nor university officials would discuss the case with the media.

Smith is no longer listed on Harris-Stowe’s College of Education website.