Heidi Anderson, the president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, is seeking $1 million in damages against Donna Satterlee, a former professor. Satterlee made claims that Anderson plagiarized her dissertation, written in 1986. The allegations led Anderson to sue Satterlee, as she said they tainted her reputation. Their first day in court is set for later this week, according to The Washington Post.

Donna Satterlee previously sued Heidi Anderson for wrongful termination

Satterlee sued Anderson for wrongful termination this summer after she left the university in December 2024. She claims she was pushed out of her role because of her race and for calling out corruption at the HBCU. 

“White and Asian faculty are treated as second-class citizens at UMES,” Satterlee wrote, according to The Washington Post.

Satterlee alleges she was paid less than other faculty members in her department and that she did not receive any promotions. In January 2024, Satterlee applied to become a full-time professor, but her application was rejected amid an investigation into allegations of bullying by her boss. The university eventually found her guilty of violating its bullying policy. Satterlee then agreed to resign from her role in exchange for 9.5 months of salary and a $41,223 contribution to her retirement plan.

As a result, Satterlee waived her right to sue the university or its employees at the time. Yet, Satterlee filed a complaint alleging racial discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in March before suing Anderson and other university leaders over wrongful termination.

She “engaged in bullying so egregious as to merit a recommendation of termination,” the office of Maryland’s attorney general wrote in a motion to dismiss the suit.

Donna Satterlee accused Heidi Anderson of plagiarism, prompting a defamation suit

As Satterlee filed her wrongful termination lawsuit, she also alleged that Anderson plagiarized her 1986 dissertation. She submitted the work to Turnitin, a plagiarism-checking site used by universities worldwide, and it found several paragraphs that had been taken from a previous research paper. Satterlee filed a complaint with the university, sent emails to reporters detailing the alleged plagiarism, and called Anderson a “scam artist” to conservative TV network Newsmax.

“I was upset with the way Anderson was treating me and also talking with students about plagiarism,” she said. “Both contributed to me reviewing her dissertation.”

In response, Anderson filed a defamation lawsuit against Satterlee and requested a formal inquiry into her dissertation to clear her name.

“I stayed quiet for as long as I could,” Anderson said. “There’s no plagiarism here. It’s an attack on me and my character and all of us at the university. I needed to take a stand.”

Holly L. Mason, Anderson’s PhD adviser at the time, publicly defended her work and said that errors in citation “are exceedingly minor and clearly unintentional.”

“Dr. Heidi M. Anderson conducted herself with integrity and adhered fully to the standards of academic honesty expected at Purdue University and the appropriate APA standards in place over 40 years ago,” Mason wrote.

As the review is still ongoing, Satterlee criticized Anderson’s decision to file a defamation lawsuit against her.

“This is vicious retaliation,” she said. “It’s not going to deter me or intimidate me. Anderson is not qualified to be president.”
The post HBCU President Files Defamation Suit Aginst White Ex-Professor Who Said ‘White And Asian Faculty Were Treated As Second-Class Citizens’ appeared first on Blavity.



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