UMES President Heidi Anderson Sues Former Professor For Defamation Over Plagiarism, Reverse Discrimination Allegations – AfroTech
Heidi Anderson, president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), has filed a $1 million defamation lawsuit against former professor Donna Satterlee over Satterlee’s allegations of plagiarism and racism.
Anderson, who is Black, holds a Ph.D. in pharmacy administration from Purdue University, according to The Washington Post. She became UMES president in 2018.
In July 2025, Satterlee, who is white, had filed a lawsuit against UMES, Anderson, and other individuals at the school, citing wrongful termination. And later, she filed a complaint with the school accusing Anderson of plagiarizing parts of her 1986 dissertation. On Oct. 15, Satterlee appeared on the Newsmax network, repeating the plagiarism claims, calling Anderson a “scam artist,” and alleging reverse discrimination.
“We cannot litigate the case in the press,” Anderson’s attorney, James Walker, told The Post. “We spoke to the school, and they reassured us verbally, in writing, and in an affidavit that Dr. Anderson did not violate any rules, plagiarize, or anything of the nature.”
Who Is Donna Satterlee?
Satterlee joined UMES in 2002, became a tenured professor in 2019, and left the university in December 2024. In her lawsuit, she alleges she was coerced to quit and pointed to racial discrimination, claiming “white and Asian faculty [at UMES] are treated as second-class citizens.” She also said she was underpaid and denied promotions despite positive evaluations.
Tensions escalated when Satterlee applied for a full-time position in January 2024. During the interview process, the university was investigating allegations that Satterlee was bullying her boss and determined she had violated its bullying policy, which would result in her termination. The state attorney general’s office agreed with this conclusion in a motion to dismiss her suit, noting that the conduct involved was “so egregious as to merit a recommendation of termination.”
According to The Post, court records show that Satterlee resigned after agreeing to a settlement that included 9.5 months of pay and a $41,223 retirement contribution, waiving her right to sue. She later said she felt pressured to resign and filed racial discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in March 2025. She filed the wrongful termination lawsuit later this summer.
Satterlee claimed she was illegally pushed out because of her race and punished for exposing corruption at the historically Black university. She also accused Anderson of trying to silence her with the defamation lawsuit.
“This is vicious retaliation,” Satterlee said, per The Post. “It’s not going to deter me or intimidate me. Anderson is not qualified to be president.”
UMES declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.
UMES President Heidi Anderson Denies Plagiarism Allegations
After the plagiarism allegations came to light, Anderson said she reached out to her Ph.D. adviser and longtime mentor, Holly L. Mason, who agreed that she had not plagiarized her paper. In a document accompanying Anderson’s defamation suit, Mason said any citation errors were “exceedingly minor and clearly unintentional.”
Latina Wilson, chair of UMES’s Board of Visitors, wrote a letter with other supporters backing the president. She said Satterlee’s allegations were an attempt to tarnish Anderson’s reputation and were “rooted in personal grievance.”
The statewide university system said its review of the plagiarism allegations will remain confidential until its completion.
“I stayed quiet for as long as I could,” Anderson said after filing her lawsuit on Oct. 24, The Post reports. “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.”
