CU Regent Wanda James is turning a long‑simmering campus fight into a courtroom showdown, announcing Tuesday that she is suing the University of Colorado. The Denver regent, who owns the Simply Pure dispensary, has been at odds with her colleagues for roughly a year after she publicly criticized a CU School of Public Health campaign. Last summer, the board formally censured her and stripped her of committee assignments.
According to CBS News Colorado, James said she plans to take legal action over the sanctions the board imposed in 2025. The Board of Regents voted 7‑1 in July 2025 to censure her and remove her from committee leadership and representational duties, as reported by Colorado Public Radio.
Investigation and the ‘Tea on THC’ Dispute
A University of Colorado independent investigative memorandum details how outside investigators combed through emails, interviews, and internal documents related to James’s objections to the “Tea on THC” public‑health campaign. They examined whether she asked officials to pull or redirect funding, weighed potential conflicts of interest, and looked at whether she tried to steer campaign money toward social‑equity grants that could benefit marijuana business owners.
Board Response and Sanctions
The Board’s official statement said the censure followed a formal investigation under Regent Policy 2.M and cited breaches of fiduciary duties. In a July 2025 statement, the regents’ chair and vice chair said the sanctions were designed to remove James from committee leadership and to prevent her from receiving future representational invitations on behalf of the board.
What the Lawsuit Could Mean Legally
The independent memo cites specific regent policies and a state statute that govern board conduct, setting the stage for the legal arguments likely to surface if James files formal claims. Any lawsuit could seek to throw out the censure or challenge how the board handled the process. Whether she will also allege violations of free‑speech or due‑process rights has not yet been made public.
Local Politics and Context
James has stayed defiant and maintained a loyal base of local support. Colorado Black Democrats and the state attorney general backed her after the censure, according to Colorado Public Radio. Her business connections add another layer to the drama, since her LoHi dispensary, Simply Pure, has faced lease pressure this year, underscoring the overlap between her public role and private interests, as per Hoodline…