Former professor files legal complaint against UNC-CH and System BOG

On Thursday, former UNC Kenan-Flagler business school clinical professor Larry Chavis filed a complaint to begin a lawsuit against UNC-Chapel Hill and the UNC System Board of Governors for relief and damages around his termination from the University. He cited “unlawful and unconstitutional employment practices” in allegations of a First Amendment violation.

In the complaint, Chavis alleges that his termination was in retaliation for him challenging the lack of diversity in UNC faculty and pay disparities between him and faculty of other races. Chavis is seeking economic damages, lost benefits and legal costs.

Chavis, who was operating on a one-year contract from 2023-24, was notified of his contract ending in a June 10 letter from Kenan-Flagler Dean Mary Margaret Frank that Chavis shared on his LinkedIn account Monday morning. Chavis worked at UNC for 18 years.

"More than anything, I have always wanted to be part of a team. Part of a community,” Chavis wrote in one LinkedIn post Monday morning. “Both the rejection and the financial uncertainty can be overwhelming at times. I feel nauseous even as I type this, and my fingers can barely move. Fortunately, my family, my therapist, my psychiatrist, and the support of many of you have helped me keep moving forward.”

The complaint

According to the complaint, four months previously, Associate Dean for Faculty and Research Christian Lundblad told Chavis that his contract would be renewed, writing that he was told it would be a multiyear contract in the future.

“So how do we get from a promise that your contract is going to be renewed, will be renewed, for two years, to now we're going to terminate your contract?” Chavis’ attorney Artur Davis said.

The document described some of Chavis’ history with UNC administration, discussing a 2021 Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office investigation into his treatment at Kenan-Flagler. It stated that findings recommended expanding recruitment of racial minorities, but there were no conclusions about Chavis' specific complaints about racial discrimination and denied advancement in the school. 

The complaint also discussed Chavis’ 2022 application for assistant dean in the undergraduate business department, writing that Shimul Melwani, the program's associate dean, said Chavis's views were too controversial for the position.

The document stated that as Chavis gathered more of an outspoken profile, his financial compensation "began to stall.”

Based on information from the UNC Salary Database, UNC’s business school employs 27 assistant professors who each earn an average of $229,784 each year. As stated in the lawsuit and found in the database, of the assistant professors, 17 were compensated at a higher annual rate than Chavis, ranging from around 1 to 9 years of employment at Kenan-Flagler.

The complaint also included a reference to the BOG’s removal of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy this May, describing Chavis as “one of its most fervent advocates of racial equity.”

Davis said that when organizations take a “conscious step backward” that there can be other consequences.

“We believe that it's hard to escape the conclusion that the decision to terminate Larry Chavis has nothing to do with this backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion,” Davis said. “We believe that professor Chavis was a casualty of the political climate that right now is very much alive in the state of North Carolina and at the University of North Carolina, a climate that, in effect, says policies that were once broadly accepted are now controversial and now deemed to be unlawful.”

The complaint wrote that Chavis' exercise of free speech was a substantial factor in his termination, ending with a request to a trial by jury on all issues.

Previous recording of class

When discussing Chavis’ class being recorded without his knowledge last semester, the complaint stated that the recording of his class may “run afoul” of North Carolina’s one-party consent recording law, requiring one party to consent to a recording, which can include the person recording.

Davis said that Chavis did not consent to the recording, saying that the class did not have the authority to consent on behalf of others.

“[Recording a professor without the professor's consent] is a classic act that can deter criticism of discrimination, and that's what this lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the recording of his classroom itself can be an adverse action under the First Amendment and the other statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1981,” Davis said. 

In an April 22 letter to Chavis informing him that the Office of the Undergraduate Business Program recorded and reviewed four of his class sessions after the fact, Lundblad wrote that notice is not required to record classes, writing that the office records classes without notice in response to concerns raised by students.

According to the Kenan-Flagler IT policies website, "Individual classes are only recorded with the expressed permission of Faculty and they opt-in by approving the request form."

In a July 3 email to The Daily Tar Heel, UNC Media Relations Manager Beth Lutz wrote that UNC does not have a formal filming policy but that "we follow applicable laws."

In an unsigned teaching evaluation sent to Chavis from Lundblad in an email on May 20, it was stated that the evaluation was conducted in April and May and encompassed course syllabi, student reports and written evaluations as well as two in-person class observations.

The evaluation ended by saying that the examination of the class uncovered issues regarding student safety and fear of retaliation from Chavis.

In his response to the evaluation, Chavis wrote that safety concerns referenced, stemming from him using the phrase "burn this bitch down" in class, as well as a student writing about its use in a class evaluation, were not contextualized.

In a LinkedIn post around four months ago, Chavis wrote that he thought he started using the phrase after watching the speech "How Can We Win" from activist Kimberly Jones. Chavis wrote that Jones described how the social contract with African Americans has been broken repeatedly, causing occasional eruptions of violence.

"That said, I don't think anyone believes that Kimberly or I were about to burn anything down," Chavis wrote.

In a statement to The DTH, UNC Media Relations wrote that the University is aware of the lawsuit, but is unable to comment further due to pending litigation.

In a separate LinkedIn post on Monday morning, Chavis shared the legal documentation surrounding the complaint.

“Sometimes, in order to move forward, individually and collectively, we have to look backward,” Chavis wrote.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated to include previous University comments and reporting from a previous article on Chavis' classes being recorded at 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30.

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