A former UCLA professor has dropped her lawsuit against the UC Regents in which the Sri Lankan alleged she suffered racial and gender discrimination after being hired in 2005 as an associate professor in ecology and evolutionary biology.
Attorneys for Priyanga Amarasekare filed court papers Monday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Weinberger asking that Amarasekare’s case be dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning it can be refiled. The court papers do not offer an explanation for the dismissal request.
In their previous court papers, UC attorneys contended that many of the allegations in Amarasekare’s amended complaint filed in January 2025 involved events that occurred outside the statute of limitations.
According to the revised suit that alleged, among other things, discrimination, harassment and retaliation, Amarasekare won many prestigious awards and accolades and was an avid proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Yet throughout her UCLA employment, Amarasekare was regularly denied accelerations that were routinely awarded to “similarly situated” white and male faculty members. An acceleration is when a faculty member is advanced more than one step at a time due to exceptional achievement.
In alleged retaliation for speaking out against the alleged discriminatory conditions, Amarasekare was subjected to suspensions, discipline, denial of promotions and pay cuts and was placed on administrative leave, her suit claimed. The regents dismissed Amarasekare in January, according to media reports.