University of Wisconsin-Madison Removes LaVar Charleston from DEI Position

Earlier this week, the University of Wisconsin-Madison released a memo detailing its reasons for removing LaVar Charleston, the former head of the school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program, from the position.

Charleston was removed from the position in January, though, at the time, no reasons were given.

Readers of this site may remember Charleston from past coverage. Last year, amidst a spate of DEI-related plagiarism allegations, Charleston came up twice. The first was with regard to his wife, Sherri Ann Charleston, Harvard’s Chief Diversity Officer. The second was with Jerlando F.L. Jackson, the Dean of Michigan State University’s College of Education.

Both cases are centered on the same paper. LaVar Charleston had published a paper, listing Sherri Charleston and Jackson as co-authors, that was similar to an earlier solo publication of his.

This raised questions about duplicative publication, gift authorship, and related issues. Though the case was one of the more serious and demonstrable allegations at the time, the school took no action against Charleston.

However, in January 2025, the school removed LaVar Charleston from his position. The school allowed him to return to a teaching role, which meant an over 60% reduction in salary.

At the time, details about the removal were sparse, other than it stemmed from an internal review of the department’s finances. Now, with this latest memo, we have more details.

A History of Controversy

The school appointed LaVar Charleson as its chief diversity officer in June 2021. However, his first public controversy took place in September 2022, when a 2011 arrest for attempting to strangle a Madison police officer.

That story went largely unnoticed. However, in January 2024, he found himself in the spotlight over allegations of plagiarism and duplicative publication.

The allegations centered around LaVar’s wife, Sherri Ann Charleston. Harvard’s chief of diversity, Sherri Charleston faced allegations of plagiarism both in her dissertation and her lone scholarly publication.

Sherri Charleston co-authored that publication with her husband and Jerlando F.L. Jackson. However, examiners found that the paper had significant overlapping text with a work LaVar Charleston had published two years prior as the sole author.

This led to allegations of plagiarism, gift authorship, and duplicative publication.

His name would come up again in October 2024 when similar allegations were made against Jackson.

However, it was not plagiarism through brought LaVar Charleston down. Instead, it was an internal review of his department’s finances. That review found that he had given his employees significant raises without approval and spent another $18,000 on massage therapy for students and $21,000 on a conference.

As a result, the school removed Charleston from his position. He can return as a faculty member. As part of that transition, the school is reducing his salary from $324,000 to $133,000.

Plagiarism is a Weak Weapon

When one looks at the slate of allegations made against DEI-related university officials, the vast majority are still in their positions. As of this writing, only three no longer hold their positions.

1. Claudine Gay – Harvard University – Resigned amidst the allegations.
2. Alade McKen – Columbia University – Left months later for unknown reasons.
3. LaVar Charleston – University of Wisconsin-Madison – Removed from Position

We don’t know why McKen left his position. However, his plagiarism allegation was easily among the most serious and clear-cut. There was little doubt that there was a serious problem with his work.

Gay and LaVar Charleston, however, have asterisks by their name. Gay was already deeply divisive and controversial before the allegations. She faced serious criticism for her testimony before the House Committee on Education. The allegations of plagiarism simply added another layer to the story.

LaVar Charleston, on the other hand, was not removed for plagiarism at all. According to the memo, the school removed him over the financial issues. The allegations of plagiarism never played a factor.

It’s worth noting that both Sherri Ann Charleston and Jackson are still in their roles.

In short, while these stories were great at generating headlines, especially among DEI critics, they were largely ineffective at removing the targeted individuals. Dubious allegations of plagiarism may get bad press, but they rarely result in firings.

But that’s not to say such stories aren’t important, just that the impact isn’t direct.

Bottom Line

In the end, LaVar Charleston’s outing will only provide more ammunition for DEI critics. At a time when DEI programs are under fire, this report is especially damning and harmful to programs everywhere.

However, from a purely plagiarism standpoint, it’s an interesting story. Though LaVar Charleston faced allegations of plagiarism, it wasn’t academic/research integrity concerns that cost him the position.

While we don’t know why the school chose to launch the audit, it was financial issues that sealed his fate.

Though serious allegations of plagiarism (or other academic/research integrity violations) can and do result in the removal of academics, see the Francesca Gino case, dubious ones typically don’t. That’s true regardless of the headlines.

Schools are pushing back against bad faith allegations and the weaponization of plagiarism more broadly. Bad press is no guarantee that an academic or an administrator will be punished, especially if the allegations don’t hold weight.