College President Caught Plagiarizing Dissertation as Racial Bias Lawsuit Mounts

Another scandal is rocking higher education this time from the top. Heidi M. Anderson, president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and former head of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, has been caught plagiarizing large portions of her 1986 doctoral dissertation. But that’s only the beginning of what’s shaping up to be a broader crisis of integrity and racial discrimination on her watch.

A federal lawsuit filed by a former professor at UMES, Dr. Donna Satterlee, accuses Anderson of running a racially biased administration that systematically favored underqualified black faculty over their more qualified white and Asian colleagues. The suit alleges that Anderson hired “low-skilled black faculty” who were paid more while white faculty were given double the work and stripped of credit.

But what makes this case explosive is what the lawsuit uncovers about Anderson’s own credentials:

• Her doctoral dissertation allegedly includes entire sections lifted nearly word-for-word from previously published academic works, including papers by Donna E. Larson, Robert M. Caldwell, and David H. Jonassen none of whom were credited.

• Even her references were copied, minus the one citation that would have pointed back to Larson, indicating a deliberate attempt to cover her tracks.

• Anderson reportedly changed terms like “nursing” to “pharmacy” and added superficial “woke” edits replacing “his” with “his/her” along with basic spelling errors, such as using “judgement” instead of “judgment.”

The so-called “original research” Anderson presented was nothing more than repackaged, outdated material and a classroom quiz created by someone else. Her conclusion? Also reportedly copied from another scholar five years earlier.

The revelations call into question Anderson’s entire academic career. Her later published work has been described as shallow and borderline useless. In one study, she asked people who they trusted for prescription advice, and when most said “their doctor,” she concluded pharmacists should talk more. In another, she made vague claims about racial slurs and called for grievance procedures offering no specifics or usable data.

All of this is surfacing as Satterlee's lawsuit paints a disturbing picture of the campus culture Anderson cultivated. The suit describes a “two-tier system of racial preferences” where non-black faculty were exploited and silenced. For instance:

• Satterlee was told to create a full master’s program in two days then saw her work stolen by a black department head who took credit.

• She was paid less than every other faculty member in her department despite having higher qualifications.

• Her request for a promotion was denied the letter even misspelled her name as “Dr. Scatterlee.”

Satterlee claims she became a target after pushing for a salary audit broken down by race and correcting glaring mistakes made by incompetent leadership. She was eventually forced out, placed on “Transitional Terminal Leave” based on accusations from the DEI office a department run by Jason Casares, who had previously resigned from another university after a sexual assault allegation.

Anderson’s administration, the lawsuit alleges, also favored foreign nationals from Africa, particularly Kenyans, for top roles regardless of skill or qualifications. One department head, Dr. Grace Namwamba, reportedly couldn't even write proper English and yet was elevated to a key position overseeing faculty like Satterlee.

The university’s academic standing has suffered as a result. UMES lost its R2 research designation once a marker of prestige for public research institutions.

This isn’t the first time a top Maryland official has been caught plagiarizing. In 2024, it was revealed that Darryll Pines, president of the University of Maryland College Park, had copied 1,500 words from a student-run website into a paper on rocket science without attribution. Despite promises of an investigation, nothing substantial has come of it over a year later.

UMES and the University System of Maryland have until October 10 to respond to the federal lawsuit against Anderson. In a brief public statement, Anderson said she was “taking the allegations seriously” and welcomed a policy-based review. But critics aren’t buying it.

“How can a university tell its students to be honest if its president is herself dishonest?” Satterlee asked. It’s a question more and more Americans are starting to ask about our education system.

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