Summary
- A former Michigan State University director filed federal and state lawsuits alleging racial discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and a hostile work environment.
- The complaint alleges MSU officials violated the Family and Medical Leave Act and federal civil rights laws after the plaintiff reported misconduct.
- The lawsuit seeks lost wages, emotional distress damages, and declaratory relief.
The director of Michigan State University’s college access programs claims in a lawsuit that she was fired as retaliation for reporting her supervisor for racially and sexually harassing her.
Stephanie Anthony, who directed the university’s Upward Bound program and was formerly a presidential adviser for relationship violence and sexual misconduct, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on July 29. In the lawsuit, she claims MSU Vice Provost for University Outreach and Engagement Kwesi Brookins, her direct supervisor, repeatedly broke state and federal civil rights laws by discriminating and retaliating against her and subjecting her to a hostile work environment.
The lawsuit came a little over a year after she filed a notice of intent with the Michigan Court of Claims, a necessary first step in filing a lawsuit against a governmental body like a university. Her attorney at the time, Liz Abdnour, told the Lansing State Journal she hoped MSU would negotiate with Anthony and a lawsuit would not be necessary.
Instead, the attacks and charges against Anthony ramped up, her now-attorney Robin Wagner told The Detroit News.
“This is what MSU does. They don’t appreciate the importance of process, that someone was trying to bring legitimate claims,” Wagner said.
In tandem with the federal lawsuit, Wagner said she filed a lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court and named Brookins and Anthony’s interim supervisor, Elyse Aurbach-Pruitt, as defendants.
MSU spokesperson Amber McCann did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the federal lawsuit, Anthony seeks compensation for lost wages, emotional distress and Family and Medical Leave Act violations. She also seeks a “declaration” that the university, Brookins and Aurbach-Pruitt violated the FMLA and discriminated against her for her race and disability. She is also seeking reinstatement to her role at the university or front pay as an alternative.
What Anthony claims about MSU in lawsuit
The federal lawsuit detailed several incidents that Anthony said added up to ongoing discrimination by Brookins.
Brookins began making her uncomfortable from their first meeting in the summer of 2022, according to the filing. Anthony was one of the members of the search committee who interviewed Brookins for the role of vice provost for university outreach and engagement, according to the filing, and she and Brookins met for lunch. During that conversation, Brookins told Anthony that if he were not a Black man, he would have been the president of a university long ago. He was later recommended by the committee, and then-interim President Teresa Woodruff offered him the role.
The filing says that in April 2023, at a conference, Brookins sat with his legs spread and his hand on his groin while speaking with Anthony, and this made her extremely uncomfortable. He demanded she perform menial tasks and personal errands for him, which was intended to demean her and her senior position at MSU, according to the lawsuit. He also intentionally made it difficult to perform both her roles of director of the Office of College Access Initiatives and presidential adviser, the filing says.
Brookins funneled money that was meant to support Anthony’s dual roles away from her, she alleges, and she only learned of this after reporting his behavior to Woodruff. After she asked him about the money, he laughed and said it was “his money” to do with what he wanted.
As a result, she developed anxiety and insomnia and was prescribed anti-anxiety medication for the first time in her life, the filing said.
In October 2024, on the Spartan Bus Tour, Brookins inappropriately touched Anthony, including rubbing and bumping against her body, according to the lawsuit. He also “repeatedly stared at her and remained in her line of sight as if to mock her or dare her to report him again,” the filing says.
After she spoke to Woodruff about Brookins, he began retaliating against her and making false reports about her to the university, and asked other MSU staff to do so as well, the filing said. The reports were found to be false by university investigators, the lawsuit says.
After Anthony filed a complaint against Brookins in July 2024 with the university’s Office of Civil Rights and Investigation Support and Resolution unit, the university refused to temporarily give her a new supervisor while her complaints were being investigated.
While Anthony took full-time medical leave for health conditions that were exacerbated by the harassment and stress she experienced from working with Brookins, he “abandoned” work in her department, the filing says. When she came back, the incomplete work was used to put her on a performance improvement plan.
Anthony was eventually given an interim supervisor, Elyse Aurbach-Pruitt. However, Pruitt reported directly to Brookins, and Anthony said in the filing Aurbach-Pruitt was told to set Anthony up to be fired. Anthony said she complied with the terms of the PIP, but despite this, Aurbach-Pruitt modified and expanded the PIP expectations without cause.
On Feb. 2, MSU issued Anthony an eligibility, rights, and responsibilities notice for FMLA and short-term disability leave. She was expected to return to work on July 21. While she was on leave, Aurbach-Pruitt appointed an acting director over her unit and initiated a compliance review of the Upward Bound program during a time Anthony was not in charge, according to the lawsuit.
On May 5, Aurbach-Pruitt notified Anthony that she intended to dismiss her and said the the results of the compliance review, along with the PIP, were why she decided to do so. On May 22, Anthony rebutted the intended dismissal and said she had never been notified of concerns and the issues raised occurred when she was on medical leave.
Anthony was officially dismissed from her role at MSU on June 3.
Reporting by Sarah Atwood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
