Hispanic professor claims university discriminated against him for proposing a diversity initiative

A former biology department chair claims New Mexico Highlands University retaliated against him after he recommended a faculty diversity, equity and inclusion initiative.ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (CN) — A New Mexico Highlands University professor is suing the school for retaliation and discrimination, saying it placed him under investigation after he proposed a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative to his colleagues in 2025.In his suit filed in Las Vegas District Court Tuesday, Jesús Antonio Rivas-Molina, a biology professor, claims disciplinary actions the university took against him violated his free speech and equal protection rights. He is asking the court to prohibit the university from enforcing or maintaining those sanctions, which include two written reprimands, removal from his position as department chair, a performance-improvement plan and a last-chance agreement.The slew of disciplinary measures came after Rivas-Molina sent a message recommending a DEI initiative to all faculty and administration on March 27, 2025.“In this day and age where diversity principles are being attacked ferociously at the federal level, with so many universities caving and complying with the elimination of DEI initiatives, it is important that we double down in our commitment to promoting and supporting diversity in our university,” Rivas-Molina wrote in the message.After faculty members claimed Rivas-Molina’s proposal was “heteronormative, misogynistic, racist and unfairly biased," acting Provost Brandon Kempner launched an investigation into him, he says in his complaint.When Rivas-Molina learned of the external investigation in April 2025, he sent an email to a faculty association, stating he believed the accusations were retaliatory and complaining that the faculty senate, faculty association and the university were “marching at locked step with the federal government.” Rivas-Molina later compared the criticisms of him to language white supremacist groups use when talking about DEI being racist against white people.The university, located in Las, Vegas, New Mexico, placed him on administrative leave.Despite university policy requiring otherwise, the school did not interview witnesses Rivas-Molina identified during the external investigation, he says in his complaint. He says he continued to push back, approaching Kempner and other university officials in August 2025 and arguing the “enforcement of different treatment against him for handbook violations was discriminatory." He claims officials then threatened to block him from using his university email.The next month, he received his first written reprimand.Rivas-Molina says he brought his complaints of discrimination to the faculty senate executive committee, arguing the university applied its rules differently to white faculty members and “brown people.”Two professors on the committee then sought no-contact orders against him and reported him to Human Resources for discrimination and retaliation. Rivas says the department did not investigate his own claims of discrimination and that he instead received further punishment.Put on probation, Rivas-Molina says the university ordered him to file a monthly report on his progress toward being “more inclusive in his communications.” He says he was eventually threatened with termination, and that the university rejected a recommendation from a New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board hearing officer to rescind the initial disciplinary actions taken against him.The biology professor, who identifies as Hispanic and is from Venezuela, claims the university discriminated against other professors, as well, saying that a professor from India left the university after it failed to investigate racist comments made by another faculty member.The defendants include NMHU’s Board of Regents, Kempner, Kathy Jenkins, Jennifer Lindline, Brown, Lekan, Josh Hanna, Neil Woolf and 10 unnamed defendants. The case is assigned to Chief Judge Flora Gallegos, and Rivas, who is represented by attorney Eric Sirotkin, requested a 12-person jury for trial.The parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads