A tenured professor at the University of Arizona has slapped the Arizona Board of Regents with a federal lawsuit, alleging he was secretly “blacklisted” from key faculty committees as retaliation for challenging what he viewed as illegal, race-based hiring practices.
The complaint, filed on November 25 by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of Dr. Matthew Abraham, portrays a behind-the-scenes campaign by university officials to sideline a dissenting voice.
According to the filing, Dr. Abraham was systematically excluded from governance roles—specifically the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT) and the English Department Academic Program Review Committee (APR)—after he spent years questioning the legality of the university’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
The “Red” List
The lawsuit brings to light internal communications that purportedly show how the exclusion took place. The filing claims that university staff utilized undisclosed “confidential” criteria to filter out faculty nominees they deemed undesirable.
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In one instance cited in the complaint, Dr. Abraham was reportedly identified in a slide presentation where his name was highlighted in red text under the label “problematic.” Other faculty members were similarly tagged as “not appropriate” or having “conflicts of interest.”
While the university reportedly justified Dr. Abraham’s exclusion by citing a “conflict of interest” due to his prior grievances—and later invoking a rule regarding his status as a law student—the lawsuit argues these were pretexts to silence a critic.
Protected Activity vs. Discrimination
Dr. Abraham’s clash with the administration spans from 2017 to 2022. During this period, he filed internal grievances, issued public records requests, and eventually submitted charges to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). His primary contention was that the university was engaging in hiring and selection practices that prioritized race over merit, violating federal law.
Ángel J. Valencia, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, stated that the university’s response to Dr. Abraham’s inquiries crossed the line from management to illegality.
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“University officials cannot blacklist a professor because he dared to question race-based hiring practices,” Valencia said. “Retaliation for speaking out about unlawful discrimination is itself illegal. We seek to restore lawful, transparent standards for committee service, to remove the stigma the University has placed on Dr. Abraham, and to hold the University accountable.”
Seeking a Policy Shift
The lawsuit argues that the defendants violated Title VII’s anti-retaliation and anti-discrimination provisions. Dr. Abraham is seeking a court order that would prohibit the university from using a faculty member’s “protected activity”—such as filing a grievance—as a disqualifier for committee service.
Furthermore, the plaintiff is demanding the university establish neutral, published criteria for appointments and expunge the “stigmatizing labels” from Dr. Abraham’s personnel records.
This legal battle marks another chapter in the Liberty Justice Center’s litigation against Arizona higher education institutions. In 2023, the firm represented student Tim Tizon in a First Amendment case regarding the distribution of the U.S. Constitution on campus.
The current case, Abraham v. Arizona Board of Regents, is now pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. As of Monday morning, the University had not issued a public comment regarding the specific allegations of the “red” list.
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