(Tucson, Arizona) — On November 25, the Liberty Justice Center filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Dr. Matthew Abraham, a tenured professor at the University of Arizona (UA), challenging the University’s exclusion of Dr. Abraham from key faculty governance committees after he opposed and sought records about what he reasonably believed were unlawful, race-based hiring and selection practices tied to DEI initiatives.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona against the Arizona Board of Regents.
Dr. Abraham engaged in protected activity from 2017 to 2022. This included internal grievances, extensive public records requests, a September 15, 2020 demand letter through counsel, a public-records special action against the Arizona Board of Regents, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charges after he discovered discriminatory practices at the University. Following these efforts, University officials illegally excluded him from the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT) and from further service on the English Department Academic Program Review Committee (APR).
Internal UA communications show staff directed the nominating process using undisclosed “confidential” criteria and labeled certain faculty as “problematic,” “not appropriate,” or subject to “conflicts of interest.” Dr. Abraham was flagged as “ineligible” and was highlighted in a slide presentation identifying “problematic” faculty in red. UA later cited a purported “conflict of interest” based on his protected grievances and selectively invoked a “degree-seeking” bar while he was enrolled in law school.
“University officials cannot blacklist a professor because he dared to question race-based hiring practices,” said Ángel J. Valencia, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “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 for their unlawful actions.”
The lawsuit alleges the defendants violated Title VII’s anti-retaliation and anti-discrimination provisions by excluding him from CAFT and APR for his protected activity and by maintaining race/DEI-preferential selection practices.
The Liberty Justice Center seeks court orders to prohibit the University from using protected activity as a disqualifier for governance roles; require neutral, published criteria for faculty governance appointments; bar unlawful race-based selection practices tied to DEI preferences; expunge stigmatizing labels from Dr. Abraham’s records; and restore fair consideration for Dr. Abraham’s committee service.
This is not the first time the Liberty Justice Center has held Arizona universities accountable for the violation of individual liberties. In 2023, the Liberty Justice Center filed State of Arizona v. Tizon, to uphold the First Amendment rights of student Tim Tizon, when he was wrongfully removed from a public forum for handing out copies of the United States Constitution. Ultimately, that case was dismissed and declared a victory for our client as the court determined that Mr. Tizon did not violate university policy by handing out pamphlets of the U.S. Constitution. Additional details and case documents can be found here.
The Liberty Justice Center is committed to defending the individual constitutional rights of people like Dr. Abraham and Mr. Tizon and will hold Universities across the country accountable for the illegal treatment of such individuals and their discriminatory and unlawful practices of race-based hiring and admissions.
Abraham v. Arizona Board of Regents was filed on November 25, 2025, in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.