Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on behalf of Dr. Brian R. Calfano, the former Head of the Journalism Department at the University of Cincinnati. The complaint, filed on February 23, 2026, alleges that University administrators systematically retaliated against Dr. Calfano—destroying his career, his reputation, and nearly his life—after he objected to an unauthorized, race-based hiring policy and supported a female colleague who reported sexist conduct by a male faculty member.
The case, Brian R. Calfano v. University of Cincinnati, et al., Case No. 1:26-cv-00188, names the University and eight individuals as defendants. The lawsuit brings claims for First Amendment retaliation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Title IX retaliation, and civil conspiracy to deprive Dr. Calfano of his constitutional rights.
Dr. Calfano is an award-winning journalist and scholar who joined UC in 2016 and rose to become a tenured full professor and Head of the Journalism Department. The complaint alleges that Dr. Calfano’s troubles began when he exercised his authority under departmental bylaws to appoint Meghan Goth—a highly qualified Cincinnati-area journalist—as faculty advisor to the student newspaper, The News Record. The lawsuit alleges that university officials obstructed that appointment through an uncodified DEI process that conflicted with existing bylaws and with Dr. Calfano’s authority as department chair.
As alleged in the federal complaint, after Dr. Calfano continued to push back and supported Goth’s subsequent complaints of sexist conduct by another faculty member—complaints the University repeatedly ignored—administrators launched a series of retaliatory actions. Dr. Calfano was removed as Department Head over spring break while on a family vacation, stripped of his teaching assignment, and subjected to a disciplinary investigation built on a hodgepodge of disparate, purported grievances that could have been refuted through minimal inquiry. The University then initiated a Title IX sexual harassment investigation against Dr. Calfano—without a single individual complainant—in an extraordinary and retaliatory abuse of process.
The toll on Dr. Calfano was devastating and resulted in his hospitalization. After resigning from the University in January 2025, his Title IX case was dismissed without prejudice, leaving a cloud of unresolved accusations hanging over him.
“We allege that the University of Cincinnati turned its enforcement machinery against Dr. Calfano for the sole purpose of punishing him for exercising his constitutional rights,” said Shams Hirji, one of Dr. Calfano’s trial attorneys. “He objected to a race-based hiring policy that violated the University’s own bylaws, and he stood by a female colleague who was being mistreated. For that, administrators stripped him of his position and subjected him to pretextual investigations in an attempt to destroy his career. This case should concern every professor in America.”
Attorney Carol A. Thompson, who represents Dr. Calfano alongside Mr. Hirji and Benjamin M. Flowers, highlighted the Title IX retaliation dimension: “Dr. Calfano did what Title IX encourages people to do—he supported a colleague who was experiencing sex discrimination and helped her navigate the reporting process. The University’s response was to ignore her complaints while turning its investigative apparatus against him. That’s not just retaliation; it sends a chilling message to anyone at the University who might consider reporting misconduct in the future.”
Reflecting on the ordeal, Dr. Calfano said, “I spent nearly a decade at the University of Cincinnati building a journalism program, mentoring students, and doing work I was proud of. All I did was try to hire the most qualified person for a job and stand by a colleague who was being mistreated. What followed was a coordinated effort to destroy everything I had built. I lost my position, my health, my career in academia, and my career in broadcast news. I hope, by bringing this case, what happened to me never happens to another professor at an American university.”
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, expungement of all records related to the Article 9 disciplinary proceedings and the Title IX investigation from Dr. Calfano’s personnel file, dismissal of the Title IX complaint on the merits with prejudice, and a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from further disclosing the unresolved allegations or investigative materials.
For more information, contact:
Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC
(513) 201-5775
info@abkf.com
