U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller last year threw out the state's counterclaim against Ross that sought to recover the money, citing a lack of evidence of misspending.
A key figure at trial will be the former campus auditor, Indra Mohabir, who is accused of making the comment about Michael Jordan while looking at a poster of the athlete in Jones' office. She has acknowledged praising Jordan's honesty, but denied it was racist.
Ross claims Mohabir harassed him during the audit, once barging into his office and rummaging through his bags and personal belongings.
An expert hired by Ross to review the audit is expected to testify that it departed significantly from university rules and professional standards governing higher education auditing. Kasieta said the shortcomings compromised the audit's independence, which may have allowed racial bias to creep in. Mohabir has denied that.
Ross claims the audit was originally only meant to review six months of his spending, but its scope was expanded after he questioned Mohabir's tactics and why the only two Black deans on campus were being audited during a 2005 interview with The Associated Press.
He will argue he delegated management of his credit card purchasing to associate dean Dr. Mary Pinkerton and she was responsible for the problems. His lawyers have noted that Pinkerton, who is White, was never disciplined and was promoted to dean after Ross was removed. She declined to comment.
Jones also filed a lawsuit claiming racial discrimination and later reached a nonmonetary settlement.
