Campbell Law Clinic Director Ciara Rogers at heart of St. Augustine’s University bankruptcy case

RALEIGH - Ciara L. Rogers, director of Campbell Law School's Stubbs Bankruptcy Clinic, has been a key voice in Saint Augustine's University Chapter 11 proceeding since the institution filed bankruptcy earlier this year.

Rogers, who is an attorney for Saint Augustine's University, represented the 158-year-old beleaguered HBCU this week in front of Judge David M. Warren in the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Since April, Rogers has been involved in multiple court filings, including motions, schedule amendments and creditor communications. The University entered bankruptcy to address its $74 million debt and limited revenue streams thus ending its years-long fight for accreditation. The University had announced plans to launch eight online, non-degree certificate programs in September 2026 covering topics such as AI, data analytics, Python, Java, biotechnology and public health. However, those plans were shelved after Judge Warren expressed doubts about the school's ability to deliver on promises to students, according to multiple local news reports.

Rogers' legal strategy has focused on halting costly, low-revenue initiatives and redirecting resources toward stabilizing the institution's finances, while working to secure a fresh start in bankruptcy.

Rogers told Judge Warren that continuing to develop those programs was not a good use of time, as they were expected to generate minimal cash flow. She emphasized the Board of Trustees' priority should be "emerging stronger" from bankruptcy, not launching new educational offerings. The school has also ended its partnership with Ed2Go, which was allowing current students to complete their programs.

Bankruptcy administrator Brian Behr called the pause in educational offerings a "very good decision" because it reduces payroll and other expenses, helping the school exit bankruptcy in a stronger financial position, ABC 11 reported. Behr also noted that the university's first priority is to repay creditors and preserve its core campus for future operations.

The Board of Trustees is working with advisor Phillip Clay, former MIT chancellor, to guide recovery. The school remains in Chapter 11, with ongoing creditor claims and litigation and debts to students are no longer marked as disputed in filings.

Rogers is a partner at Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey PLLC, where she focuses her practice on bankruptcy and business insolvency. She is certified as a Business Bankruptcy Law Specialist by the North Carolina State Bar and is licensed to practice in all federal and state courts in North Carolina and Virginia, as well as the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Before joining her current firm, Rogers was an attorney with a boutique Chapter 11 debtor's firm in Eastern North Carolina. Prior to that, she was a law clerk to the Honorable J. Rich Leonard and the Honorable Randy D. Doub of the Eastern District of North Carolina Bankruptcy Court. In 2018, Rogers was chosen to be the director of Stubbs Bankruptcy Law Clinic where she supervises second- and third-year law students in providing pro bono bankruptcy representation to low-wealth individuals in the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Rogers earned her bachelor's degree in political science and history from Averett University and her JD from North Carolina Central University School of Law.

ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL

Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law School has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation's top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation's best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 5,000 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2026, Campbell Law is celebrating 50 years of educating legal leaders and 17 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina's Capital City.

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