Najja Baptist, a former professor at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville who was dismissed in March after an internal audit found that he charged tens of thousands of dollars in personal expenses related to his June 2025 wedding and honeymoon, was arrested for domestic battery this week. His new wife is seeking a divorce.
Additionally, the university’s board of trustees upheld Baptist’s dismissal on Thursday.
Busted Madison County Newspaper, a Facebook page that posts the mugshot and charges of every inmate at the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, posted Baptist’s mugshot on Sept. 12. Baptist was booked at 10:40 a.m. that day on charges of domestic battery and endangering the welfare of a minor by a parent or guardian, and released less than an hour later. It’s not clear who the child in question is, or how they were endangered.
On Monday, Madison Unique Baptist filed for both a divorce, citing general indignities, and an order of protection from Najja Baptist. A hearing for the order of protection is set for Oct. 5.
Najja Baptist, who lead U of A’s African American Studies program, came under scrutiny from the university after his department chair at the university, who Najja Baptist invited to his June 7, 2025, wedding, noticed that Najja Baptist had charged to the university expenses for the venue listed on the wedding invitation.
A subsequent audit found that he had charged the publicly funded university a total of $48,344.26 in transactions related to his wedding festivities and travel, and that Najja Baptist didn’t have the proper certification to conduct research on human subjects at the time of his research trip.
Jay Silveria, president of the University of Arkansas System, dismissed Najja Baptist in March. In April, Najja Baptist filed a federal lawsuit against the university alleging that the audit and his dismissal was retaliatory after he reported Fulbright College Dean Brian Raines for a racist comment. A university investigation cleared Raines of any wrongdoing. The U of A countersued Najja Baptist in May.