Campus Reform Reports on AIM’s UNC Investigation
January 9, 2026
An employee at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) who was fired after admitting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) measures are still being implemented has now filed a lawsuit against the school.
Janique Sanders, who was the assistant director for UNC Charlotte’s Office of Leadership and Community Engagement, was featured in an undercover video captured in May by Accuracy in Media (AIM) discussing how DEI is still being implemented within the university, the Charlotte Observer reports.
On Dec. 22, Sanders and her attorneys filed the complaint in the Western District of North Carolina. In it, Sanders alleges that “Within 24 hours, Sanders was fired by UNCC’s Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Karen Shaffer and its Executive Director of Student Affairs Frank Fleming for her exercise of her rights as an American citizen to speak on a matter of controversy and public concern.”
The director is accusing the university of violating her First Amendment Constitutional rights by firing her, and that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “Her firing reflects an impermissible injection of racial bias into an employment decision.”