A tenured University of Arizona professor recently filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging retaliation for opposing what he believed were race-based hiring practices tied to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives.
Professor Matthew Abraham claims the university sanctioned and excluded him from key faculty committees after he raised concerns about DEI hiring policies and sought more information through public records requests.
“This case is not about opposing diversity,” the professor’s attorney with the Liberty Justice Center told The College Fix in a recent email.
“It’s about ensuring that diversity initiatives comply with federal law and that faculty members are not punished for asking hard questions about whether race is being used unlawfully,” attorney Ángel Valencia said.
Abraham argues in the lawsuit that he made “good-faith complaints” to university officials between 2017 and 2022 about hiring and selection practices that unlawfully favored candidates based on race and other protected characteristics.
As a result, Abraham was removed from the university’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the English Department Academic Program Review Committee, according to the lawsuit. He had previously chaired the academic freedom committee.
Abraham told The Fix in a phone interview that through a public records request, he uncovered staff communications that labeled him and two other professors as “problematic” and having “difficult personalities” in discussions about the academic freedom committee.
“We were trouble for the administration, and we were kind of red lined from being on probably the most important committee in the University, because it deals with tenure denials and dismissals like the one I’m dealing with right now,” Abraham said.
He said that since filing the lawsuit, the university has tried to argue that he misused computer networks, had an affair with a student, and sent harassing emails.
“It’s my sense that they’re just throwing various things at me to see what might stick,” Abraham told The Fix. “None of this is born out of actual facts.”
Hellbound and Down 