DENVER — The University of Colorado has spent over $1 million on legal costs and investigations related to a lawsuit Regent Wanda James filed against her fellow regents.
“I'm heartbroken about this. This is not how I wanted to represent my alma mater. This is not how I think that this board of regents should be treating one of their own, and this is definitively not a way of bringing pride to the University of Colorado,” James told Denver7.
The nine-member elected Board of Regents is the official governing and policy-making body for the University of Colorado system.
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James spoke out about racist depictions of African Americans on an Instagram account run by CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus. The board of regents voted to censure and sanction her in 2025. The sanctions prevent James from serving on committees, removed her from leadership positions, and from going to events as a representative of the CU Regents.
James sued the University of Colorado Board of Regents in May for retaliation and violating her free speech.
James said she filed the lawsuit to get her rights back quickly, not for an expensive legal battle.
“My first reaction, quite frankly, was flat-out shock. At a time when we are asking students and families to take on more debt, we are watching Colorado families struggle to make ends meet, and this is about as frivolous as you could possibly get,” James said.
CU has spent $528,000 on legal fees and $478,000 on independent investigations related to the lawsuit.
“There was a single, third-party investigation into Regent James’ public advocacy to remove funding from the Colorado School of Public Health, which began on March 18, 2025. In addition, based on Regent James’ assertions, there was a second, third-party investigation into Regent Callie Rennison, which began on April 1, 2025,” CU Spokesperson Michele Ames said.
Ames said the investigation found that Regent Rennison did not violate any laws or policies.
CU is paying up to $900 an hour for some attorneys working on the case.
“Regent James’ lawsuit claims that her censure and sanctions were related to protected speech as well as racism and sexism. These claims are not true. The actions taken by the board were related to Regent James’ attempts to remove funding from the state-funded school of public health campaign even after her concerns about the campaign had been addressed,” Ames said.
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