As part of his memorandum opinion, Moon summarized the arguments as presented by Bhattacharya. According to the plaintiff, the lawsuit was spurred by a series of events that Bhattacharya claims began with a panel discussion about microaggressions and ended with his suspension and eventual expulsion. Per the opinion, in November 2018, Bhattacharya attended a panel on microaggressions led by UVa professor Beverly Colwell Adams. The panel began with Adams giving a roughly 17-minute presentation about her research on microaggressions, which are generally defined as a âstatement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority.â