By MATEUS FERREIRA/Head Writer
In October of 2023, Dr. Mickie Mwanzia Koster would be accused of secretly hiring a stranger from Kenya to do her work as a professor. The ensuing high-stakes debacle would involve a firing, a reversal, allegations of discrimination, claims of facility collusion and a police report filed halfway across the globe. Koster would also become one of the first documented tenured professors to be fired under the highly controversial Senate Bill 18 provisions.
Starting on July 19, 2023, Henry Donald, the chief compliance officer, began receiving emails from someone claiming that he and another person were Koster’s “employees.” He tells Henry that although he was called an “employee” of Koster, there was no employment contract since Koster didn’t have a worker’s permit visa. The anonymous person would go on to explain the work he did for Koster and share a collection of incriminating screenshots and videos that appeared to show her using others to complete her work. The Employee said he met Koster while working for a “tour company.”
“Then we started talking, and that’s how I got the job, in which case it was not a job as what I thought—it [was] more of being used,” he said in an email.
He was hired alongside a woman who ‘was and is still in school.’ He clarified that this woman did not work ‘full time’ like he did.
The unnamed source specifically helped with the student review program, which he claimed Koster didn’t want to look at because it was mostly students “complaining” about her. The two employees were also trained to use the UT Tyler system, allegedly because she planned to use the same system in a university she planned to open in East Africa.
The employees mainly set up exams and graded papers, as shown by screenshots the unnamed source sent to Henry. In one text conversation, Koster directs the employees to give automatic Bs for essays, among other instructions.
It is unclear what other work the employee was doing for Koster and what their sometimes intimate relationship was. At one point, the employee says his life “has no meaning” without her. Additionally, Koster would ask about the status of a piece of land and about revising an agreement for it. She also asked the employee to go to immigration because they had forgotten to stamp her passport. The text messages mention various locations in Kenya, such as Nairobi and Thika.
The same month he reached out to Henry, the employee had done 9 Symplry learning tests, which were likely part of a required Human Resources training required by UT. He said while taking these tests, he came across the rules and regulations for the school and found that only employees can access the UT Tyler system. He brought this up to Dr. Koster.
”[I] am no longer working with the professor since after I [questioned] them, they said, ‘I don’t pay you to ask me questions,’” said the unnamed source.
EVIDENCE SHOWN TO KOSTER
The correspondence between Henry and the unnamed source ended on July 21.
On August 9, Henry reached out to Koster.
They met on Sep. 7, and Koster was presented with evidence of wrongdoing. According to a letter from the provost, Amir Mirmiran, when the evidence was shown, Koster said she had hired the unnamed source as a helper but did not recall giving him a password. She said it was possible the helper might have gotten the password by looking over her shoulder. She also claimed she did not go through the regular process of hiring a teaching assistant through the university because the process took too long.
In another meeting on September 29, she denied “having any knowledge of FERPA,” even though she had worked at UT Tyler for 13 years.
Compliance finished its investigation and issued a report on September 14th, 2023. On Oct. 16 Koster received her termination letter, which said her complete termination would occur on Oct. 31.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS STEPS IN
The AAUP is a non-profit that advocates for academic freedom and faculty rights in higher education. On Oct. 25, the Texas Conference of AAUP wrote to UT Tyler President Dr. Kirk Calhoun and said Koster had not been given the due process afforded to a tenured teacher.
According to a previous Talon report, shortly after the email, the University announced she would be allowed to give her side of the story to a tribunal.
According to the AAUP, on Oct. 30, Dean Grey sent Koster a “casually worded” email rescinding the termination letter and putting her on paid leave.
RESPONSE FROM PROVOST
In November, the Provost sent Koster a letter restating the charges and bringing in new ones.
“The report concluded the allegations were substantiated,” wrote Mirmiran, summarizing the investigation to Koster. “You admitted to hiring the Complainant, a person unaffiliated with the University who is located in Kenya, to perform some of your job duties, including having access to CANVAS and sensitive student data in clear violation of FERPA.”
The letter also said Koster violated the university’s remote work policies. Koster alleged that a former Dean had told her she could work from anywhere and she admitted she had been working in Kenya since 2019.
ARGUMENT BY THE AAUP
On Nov. 15, the Office of Faculty Representation of the Texas Conference of the AAUP sent a letter to UT on behalf of Koster.
They argued Koster hired the employee as a personal assistant and used his expertise as a native Kenyan to help her with research activities and translations. They claim he only helped with “solely organizational aspects of her grade books.”
The letter describes the unnamed source as a “disgruntled employee” who was focused on retaliation against Koster for not hiring his cousin as he requested and for firing him in July. According to AAUP, he also accessed student information without her consent.
Koster provided a screenshot of a text conversation with a former employer to prove his motives. In the screenshot, she forwards a threatening message from the employee:
“Lastly the pain of being called a thief was too much so I decided I am not going down without a fight. Am really sorry. I’ll see you in Texas,” the message said.
Upon this and the data breach, she filed a police report in Kenya against him “to secure her student’s academic records.” Koster says she told Henry this during a compliance meeting in September, but they failed to acknowledge or supply a copy of the report until much later.
“Thus, Dr. Koster denies the allegations of violation of the security and password violations you listed, as the uses of her login and password information by [the employee] was done without her authorization, knowledge, or consent,” AAUP said in the letter.
KOSTER’S GRIEVANCE WITH UT ADMINISTRATION
The letter also claims that the university ignored her grievances about contesting her firing and her right to due process. They claim Mirmiran issued a letter with a new set of Termination charges against Koster on Nov. 7, shortly after Koster filed her own grievance against the Provost and other administrators. The AAUP says this points to the letter being “retaliatory.”
Koster also filed a grievance under UTT HOP 3.5.0, a rule about due process for firings. The faculty senate denied that the rule applied to Koster the same day Koster received the provost’s alleged “retaliatory” response.
As a result, AAUP expressed fear of collusion between the Faculty Senate and University administrators like the Provost. They claim administrators worked to stop the grievance of UTT HOP 3.50 from moving forward while other administrators pursued charges for her firing. The letter called for the Provost to remove himself from the case.
Koster stated that the grievance she initially cited with the faculty senate is still active and now falls under additional University policy. She alleged violations of the U.S. Constitution, the Texas Constitution and UT policy. The grievances mentioned multiple UT administrators of causing irreversible harm to her reputation.
On Dec. 19, 2023, the President of UT sent Koster a letter saying he agreed with the Provost and that she should be fired. He invited her to meet with him in January and to bring a representative if she wished to.
The Talon has no further information on whether Koster went to this meeting or what role the AAUP played in her legal battle with the University other than that she was eventually fired. The Talon also has no further information on how all the specific charges in the AAUP letter were settled. Koster’s final day of employment was Nov. 22, 2024.
CHARGE OF DISCRIMINATION
According to files given to the Talon, Koster then filed a charge of discrimination against UT with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This federal agency enforces laws against workplace discrimination. She alleged the University had fired her as a retaliatory act because she had reported discrimination. She alleged her former supervisor had taken racially discriminatory actions against her, and she had reported it in her post-tenure review. She also said she often complained that her student evaluations were sexist and racist and negatively impacted her salary.
UT filed a position statement, which explains the employer’s side of the story. In Response, UT says they have no formal records of her complaining about discrimination and that Dean Grey does not remember her ever bringing it up. They point out that her being put on administrative leave could not be a retaliatory act since it was before they found out about the EEOC complaint.
“The University of Texas at Tyler denies that it discriminated or retaliated against Complainant because of her race as alleged in the Charge,” wrote Lindsey Birdsong, deputy chief legal, in the response.
It should be noted that the Talon does not have Koster’s original complaint to the EEOC but only the information from UT’s response.
After a period of review, the EEOC decided to end the investigation and sent her a determination of Charge on Aug. 9, 2024. She was also issued a right-to-sue letter, but it is unknown if she took further legal action.
