Kleinschmit v. University of Illinois Chicago

On February 10, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit against the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) on behalf of a professor whose contract was terminated after he criticized the university’s racially discriminatory hiring programs.

Professor Stephen Kleinschmit holds a PhD in Public Administration and was a clinical associate professor in the University of Illinois Chicago’s Department of Public Policy, Management, and Analytics (PPMA) until August 2023. During his time at UIC, he became concerned about the university’s fixation on race when interviewing and hiring faculty—and quickly realized that multiple university programs were illegal under federal law because they regularly used race as a primary or even exclusive factor in hiring decisions.

Professor Kleinschmit objected to these illegal practices and expressed concerns about the discriminatory nature of various university programs to his colleagues and university leadership. On August 15, 2023, the university terminated his contract.

The Liberty Justice Center’s lawsuit alleges that UIC retaliated against Professor Kleinschmit for criticizing its illegal acts of discrimination against its employees and potential applicants—in blatant violation of the right to equal protection under the law. The lawsuit also alleges that university administrators purposely withheld notification of his contract nonrenewal until the academic hiring cycle was concluding, leaving him unemployed for an entire year.

As a public university, the University of Illinois Chicago is a state actor and therefore constitutionally required to respect the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. By discriminating against employees and applicants on the basis of protected, immutable characteristics such as race—and by firing Professor Kleinschmit for objecting to this behavior—the university violated the Fourteenth Amendment and engaged in illegal retaliation.

The Liberty Justice Center’s lawsuit asks the court to order the university to halt its racially discriminatory hiring and retention practices. The suit also seeks financial compensation for the earnings and benefits Professor Kleinschmit lost due to UIC’s illegal actions.

“The University of Illinois Chicago repeatedly engaged in blatant acts of racial discrimination, then added illegal retaliation to the mix to avoid accountability for its unlawful behavior,” said Reilly Stephens, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “These actions are unacceptable violations of the right to equal protection under the law, and we urge the court to put a stop to it immediately.”

“I was fired for speaking out against illegal behavior by the university. I’m grateful to the Liberty Justice Center for taking a stand against institutional corruption and fighting for my constitutional and statutory rights,” said Professor Stephen Kleinschmit, plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Kleinschmit v. University of Illinois Chicago was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on February 10, 2025.