RIO RANCHO, N.M. – The University of New Mexico retaliated against the director of Africana Studies for demanding that his program be elevated to a department and later removed him when the program got state funding for the change, according to a whistleblower lawsuit.

Attorney for Charles Becknell Jr. filed the whistleblower lawsuit in state district court last month alleging the school retaliated against him and failed to adequately investigate a series of racist and threatening emails he received.

Becknell sought to elevate Africana Studies from a program to a department that would grant undergraduate and graduate degrees after Chicano Studies and Native American Studies had achieved department status, the lawsuit said.

But a dean told Becknell that the University of New Mexico was focused on elevating Chicano Studies to a department and an upgrade of Africana Studies wasn’t in the immediate plans, the lawsuit claims.

After Africana Studies got state funding to become a department, Becknell was told it needed a tenure-track professor to lead the new program and Becknell was removed.

The University of New Mexico said Becknell remains the director of the Africana Studies program and will search for a new director when it becomes a department.

University of New Mexico spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair said the school is aware of the lawsuit but doesn’t comment about pending litigation.

Becknell is seeking unspecified damages and his old position.

Chicano Studies and Native American Studies recently began granting graduate degrees and have seen enrollment jump. For example, Chicano Studies boosted student enrollment from 96 in 2011 to 707 last fall.

The change has come even as other departments and programs within the University of New Mexico have seen drops in students and the school overall has experienced a decline in enrollment.