The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is facing a lawsuit over its racial hiring quotas after a former professor claimed he was illegally “retaliated” against for objecting to its allegedly discriminatory practices.

Professor Stephen Kleinschmit was a clinical associate professor at UIC’s Department of Public Policy, Management and Analytics (PPMA) until his contract was terminated in August 2023.  

According to a legal complaint filed in federal court Monday by legal firm Liberty Justice Center, Kleinschmit was fired after criticizing the allegedly discriminatory and unlawful nature of a new university recruitment program that focused on candidates’ race, gender and sexual orientation in its criteria for hiring.

The lawsuit claims that in late 2019, the professor became uncomfortable during meetings about the candidate search for UIC’s new “Bridge to Faculty” (B2F) program. B2F is a recruitment program under the university’s diversity office, which aims to diversify faculty and “attract underrepresented postdoctoral scholars with the goal of a direct transition to a tenure-track junior faculty position after two years,” UIC says.

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During these meetings, fellow faculty members “spent an extended period of time discussing the racial characteristics of the candidates and routinely lamented the race and gender makeup of the applicant pool,” the complaint states. 

Kleinschmit came to believe that B2F, and other diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at the public university, were illegal under federal nondiscrimination law. 

He initially hesitated to speak out for fear of “being ostracized and retaliated against” as a non-tenure faculty member. Eventually, he shared his concerns with other members of his department and college administrators, worrying that he could be implicated in participating in what he believed to be illegal activities by the university.

Kleinschmit’s conversations objecting to the university’s racial hiring practices and political activism over that nearly 4-year period before he was terminated, “were not well received,” the complaint adds. 

The complaint names four other race-based hiring programs at UIC to argue there is “pervasive racial discrimination in employment practices” at the school that has “undermined” its academic integrity.

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UIC allegedly said Kleinschmit’s contract was not renewed due to budget cuts. 

The complaint says that five months after his termination, UIC advertised it was hiring for a non-tenure track faculty position with job duties that “significantly overlapped” with Kleinschmit’s prior responsibilities. The job posting encouraged “members of a recognized underrepresented group” to apply. 

Liberty Justice Center says Kleinschmit was an “exemplary” employee who was promoted early and received positive performance evaluations, merit-driven bonuses and salary increases every year of his 6-year employment at the university.

The professor says he was not notified of his impending layoff until June 2023, leaving him little time for a successful appeal. The late notice also hurt his ability to find another job before the commencement of the academic school year, leaving him unemployed for an entire year, according to the complaint.

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Liberty Justice Center is accusing UIC of racial discrimination and retaliation against Kleinschmit. It asks the court to order the university to halt its racially discriminatory hiring and retention practices and seeks financial damages for the earnings and benefits Kleinschmit lost because of the university’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,” Reilly Stephens, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, said. “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.”

Kleinschmit, who is now an instructor at Northwestern University’s School of Public Policy, said, “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.”

The University of Illinois Chicago said it does not comment on pending litigation.

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The lawsuit is the latest example of a public university facing scrutiny for its race-based hiring practices after the University of Colorado Boulder also came under fire in recent weeks.

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In his first slew of executive orders, President Donald Trump launched a federal review of DEI teachings and practices in educational institutions receiving federal funding.

On January 21, Trump issued an order, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” that accuses DEI policies of violating civil rights protections. 

The order requires that the attorney general and secretary of education identify potential civil compliance investigations among institutions of higher education with endowments over $1 billion and, accordingly, develop action plans to “deter DEI programs or principles that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences.”

Universities across the nation shuttered their DEI offices last year as Republican lawmakers targeted these policies. Missouri State University and West Virginia University are the latest schools to shut down their DEI programs this year.

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.