U. Arizona professor alleges retaliation for opposing DEI hiring practices

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.”

This lawsuit is related to a charge that Abraham filed in 2022 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “alleging race discrimination and retaliation for engaging in protected activity.”

However, university spokesperson Mieczyslaw Zak told The Fix that the professor’s lawsuit is “baseless.”

“He did not file this lawsuit until after the university initiated formal proceedings to dismiss him for holding outside employment that interfered with his duties as a full-time tenured faculty member,” Zak told The Fix.

In response, Abraham said that Zak is “confused” since the current lawsuit is related to a 2022 EEOC charge, which doesn’t include his dismissal from the university.

“The U. of A has now spun this to say, ‘Oh, Dr. Abraham refused to teach between eight and five,’ and that’s not really what happened,” Abraham said. 

He called the claim “absurd” because other faculty members are unavailable to teach certain times and days for many reasons and their scheduled are accommodated.

Abraham previously worked full time at both the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the City of Tucson while teaching at the university. He said he disclosed his university position to the AG’s Office and believes the university pressured his other employers to terminate him in order to silence his compliance complaints.

“It had nothing to do with me working two state jobs,” Abraham said. “I never refused to teach.”

Valencia said evidence will show the outside employment rationale was selectively applied and used to mask retaliation.

“Under federal law, you cannot selectively apply a standard to one person but not others,” he said.

The lawyer said the “real reasons” for the university’s actions are Abraham’s complaints, questions, and public records requests about its hiring practices.

He also said the complaint was filed on time to make it to federal court because it was filed within 90 days from the dismissal date of the EEOC charge.

On the other hand, Zach Greenberg, counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told The Fix that employers can discipline employees for failing to meet job responsibilities.

“From my understanding, the professor had a full time job, and any employer can punish employees for failing to fulfill that job,” Greenberg said.

He added that the dismissal process is ongoing and based on Abraham’s refusal to fulfill the “professional responsibilities and standards” expected of university faculty.

The Arizona Board of Regents has requested an extension to respond to the lawsuit, but it is not yet clear when the case will be heard in federal court.

“You always assume tenure means you’re secure,” Abraham said. “To have the rug pulled out from under you like this is deeply distressing.”

Abraham also pointed to what he described as a broader pattern of retaliation against whistleblowers at the university, citing the case of former instructor Dan Grossenbach, who was fired after raising concerns about transparency with parents regarding gender identity discussions.

“The targeting of whistleblowers has quite a history at U. of A.,” Abraham said.

Further, he criticized the university’s Strategic Priorities Faculty Initiative, a multi-million dollar hiring program he believes disproportionately favors candidates from historically marginalized groups.

“Every SPFI search I’m aware of has hired an ethnic minority,” Abraham said. “There may be one white-identifying person hired through that program during my time.”