By MATEUS FERREIRA/Head Writer
In October of 2023, Dr. Mickie Mwanzia Koster was accused of secretly hiring a person from Kenya to do some of her job duties. The ensuing high-stakes case involved a firing, a reversal of the initial firing, allegations of discrimination, claims of collusion within the university and a police report filed halfway across the globe.
Koster, who was an associate professor of history on Africa and the African diaspora, became one of the first documented tenured professors to be fired under 2023 Texas Senate Bill 18 provisions.
To find out how the case played out largely behind the scenes, The Patriot Talon reviewed dozens of records, many obtained after filing Freedom of Information requests.
On July 19, 2023, Donald Henry, the university’s chief compliance officer, began receiving emails from a man claiming that he and another person were Koster’s “employees,” according to records reviewed by Talon.
He tells Henry that although he was called an “employee” of Koster, no employment contract existed in part because Koster didn’t have a worker’s permit visa.
The anonymous person explained the work he did for Koster and shared screenshots and videos that appear to show Koster 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 said was hired along with a woman who ‘”as and is still in school.” He clarified that the 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 trained to use the learning management system at UT Tyler, allegedly because she planned to use the same system in a university she hoped to open in East Africa.
Records show 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 man was doing for Koster and what their personal relationship was. At one point, the source says his life “has no meaning” without her. Additionally, Koster asked about the status of a piece of land and about revising an agreement for it. She also asked the man 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, he completed nine Symplilearn online certification courses, which likely were part of a required human resources training required by UT Tyler. He said he came across rules and regulations stating only employees can access the UT Tyler system, known as Canvas. He brought this to the attention of 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 Aug. 9, Henry reached out to Koster.
When he and Koster met on Sep. 7, 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 man in question as a helper but did not recall giving him a password providing access to her university account. She said it was possible her got 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 meeting on Sept. 29, she denied “having any knowledge of FERPA,” even though she had worked at UT Tyler for 13 years. FERPA prevents the sharing of student academic records with anyone other than the student and required university officials.
Compliance conducted an investigation on whether Koster had possibly violated policy and issued a report on Sept. 14, 2023. On Oct. 16 Koster received a 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 organization that advocates for academic freedom and faculty rights in higher education. On Oct. 25, the Texas Conference of AAUP wrote to then UT Tyler President Dr. Kirk Calhoun and said Koster had not been given the due process afforded to a tenured teacher before firing.
According to a previous Talon report, shortly after the email, the university announced that any final decision concerning Koster’s employment status would not be made until she was allowed to give her side of the story to a tribunal of faculty members.
On Oct. 30, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Neil Gray sent Koster a “casually worded” email rescinding the termination letter and putting her on paid leave, said information shared by the AAUP.
RESPONSE FROM PROVOST
In November, the provost sent Koster a letter restating the charges against her 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 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 (Handbook of Operating Procedures) 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 active and 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 Tyler 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 documents given to the Talon, Koster filed a charge of discrimination against UT Tyler with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This federal agency enforces laws against workplace discrimination.
She alleged the university 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 said she often complained that her student evaluations were sexist and racist and negatively impacted her salary.
UT Tyler filed a position statement, which explains the employer’s side. In response, UT Tyler said it had no formal records of her complaining about discrimination and that Dean Gray does not remember her ever bringing it up. The statement says that placing her on administrative leave could not be a retaliatory act since it was taken before the university 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.
