‘KU was wrong’: Former professor sues for his old job, alleging racial discrimination
A former University of Kansas professor who alleges he was discriminated against because of his Chinese heritage has filed a lawsuit challenging his termination by the school in connection with a criminal prosecution by the federal government in which he was ultimately acquitted.
Attorneys for Feng “Franklin” Tao, a Chinese-American academic who taught chemical engineering and chemistry at KU, wrote that he was racially profiled in the prosecution by the Department of Justice under its “China Initiative” and that his “life, career, reputation, and finances” were in shambles as a result of KU’s “egregious conduct” as it assisted in the prosecution and fired him.
The school terminated him in 2023 after a jury found him guilty of some of the charges brought against him, his attorneys said. Tao was eventually acquitted of all the charges, but the school has refused to reinstate him, they said.
Tao is seeking an order requiring KU to reinstate him and is seeking lost wages plus damages, his attorneys wrote in the lawsuit filed Jan. 3 in U.S. District Court in Kansas.
“Rather than embracing academic rigor and enlightened, critical judgment, the university allowed itself to join in fear mongering and racist witch hunting,” the lawsuit said.
“It failed its own vision of being a ‘home to innovative research and the constant pursuit of knowledge’ and to be guided by ‘perseverance, positivity, and restless innovation.’ KU was wrong, should be ashamed of its actions, and deserves to be held accountable for the damage it caused to Professor Tao.”
A message sent to a university spokeswoman seeking comment was not returned Friday afternoon. An attorney representing Tao said he did not want to comment.
Tao’s attorneys wrote that he was the first professor prosecuted under the Department of Justice’s “China Initiative,” an effort aimed at “countering Chinese national security threats” launched during President Donald Trump’s first term in 2018.
Tao’s attorneys said a disgruntled student who attempted to extort Tao falsely reported to the school that Tao was involved in espionage and held a full-time position in China. The allegation was then passed on to the FBI, and the school “acted as an arm of the government” in prosecuting Tao, the lawsuit claims.
“We take these allegations very seriously,” KU Chancellor Douglas A. Girod said in a statement at the time Tao was first charged in 2019. “We learned of this potential criminal activity this spring, and we reported it to authorities and have cooperated with the ongoing investigation.”
Tao was arrested, placed on administrative leave and eventually fired before the criminal proceedings had concluded, his attorneys said.
Investigators found no evidence of espionage, but Tao was prosecuted on wire fraud and false statement charges involving a job offer he had declined from a Chinese university and his failure to disclose the link to the school, the lawsuit said.
During a trial, Tao was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement, but the court eventually acquitted him on the wire fraud counts and an appeals court reversed the false statement charge, his attorneys said.
His attorneys said the university treated him differently than other faculty members who did not have Chinese heritage, yet also had “significant” interactions with foreign universities.
The lawsuit names a handful of counts against the university, including violations of the Civil Rights Act, discrimination, breach of contract and deprivation of procedural due process.
This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 5:58 PM.
