UNI professor sues over alleged efforts to ‘frame’ her and drive her out

A University of Northern Iowa professor is suing the university, alleging administrators waged a coordinated campaign to falsely “frame” her for disability discrimination while subjecting her to gender-based discrimination.

In a newly filed federal lawsuit filed against UNI, Mary Catherine DeSoto, an author and a tenured professor at the school, states that her “life and career have been defined by sustained political activism and public advocacy, including raising concerns about administrative spending, resource allocation, and institutional waste.”

She alleges those positions have, at various times during her 24 years at the school, placed her “in sharp conflict with university administration.”

The lawsuit alleges that after “disturbing incidents in 2012,” regarded by some as “severe retaliation” her for activism, DeSoto felt compelled to enter an informal agreement with the university and curtail her criticism of wasteful spending.

In 2023, she resumed her advocacy when she agreed to serve on UNI’s budget committee and gave a presentation addressing what the lawsuit characterizes as “administrative bloat and threats to course offerings,” the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, UNI officials responded to the presentation by initiating a “renewed campaign of retaliation marked not only by defamatory attacks on her professionalism but also by grave procedural violations — including denial of her right to appeal, undisclosed ex parte communications with decision-makers, and the deliberate exclusion of exculpatory evidence from investigative reports.”

The lawsuit claims these “procedural abuses” were compounded by UNI’s “longstanding failure to address DeSoto’s Title IX complaints of discriminatory harassment by an administrator” at the school. The school then showed “unwavering institutional support” for the accused harasser, adding that this “entrenched pattern of institutional misconduct” inflicted profound harm on DeSoto’s career and well-being.

In addition to UNI itself, the lawsuit names as defendants UNI President Mark Nook; Provost and Executive President for Academic Affairs Jose Herrera; Dean of the College of Social & Behavioral Science Brenda Bass; Associate Provost Amy Nielsen; Adam Butler, the head of the Department of Psychology and DeSoto’s supervisor; Ann Bilder, legal counsel for UNI; Title IX Officer Leah Gutknecht; Assistant Dean of Students Tiffany Dodd; Deputy Title IX Coordinator Kaylee Michelsen; Brenda White, an investigator for UNI; and Kara Hughes, a senior “solutions specialist” at Grand River Solutions.

The university has yet to file a response to the allegations, and a university spokesperson on Tuesday declined to comment on the matter.

Lawsuit alleges ‘yelling rants’ by department head

DeSoto alleges that from 2010 through 2013, while serving as president of UNI’s United Faculty organization, she regularly voiced concerns that budget cuts were necessitated by excessive spending on administration and were degrading course offerings and damaging the overall education experience of UNI students.

According to the lawsuit, her activism led to news coverage and presentations to the Iowa Legislature on “wasteful spending,” after which UNI’s faculty issued a vote of no confidence against the school’s then-president, Benjamin Allen.

The lawsuit claims Allen then issued a public statement falsely accusing DeSoto of being anti-military, which led to her receiving hundreds of hate emails and fielding death threats. “For a period, DeSoto required university-provided security escorts to and from classes for her personal safety,” the lawsuit alleges. “Her car was vandalized, and the words ‘USA’ carved into the paint.”

In 2013, DeSoto advised the UNI administration she was formally backing away from her activism and criticism of the budget and she opted not to seek re-election as president of the United Faculty, according to the lawsuit.

Beginning in December 2016 and continuing through September of 2024, the lawsuit claims, DeSoto repeatedly sought assistance from the school’s Office of Civil Rights Compliance regarding Butler, her supervisor.

The lawsuit claims Butler openly criticized DeSoto for her then-recent marital separation and lectured her about her personal life, asserting that her place was at home with her husband who also worked at the school. “Butler’s harassment and lecturing continued after DeSoto eventually got divorced,” the lawsuit claims, adding that Butler typically “saved his yelling rants for female employees of the Psychology Department. On the rare occasion that he raised his voice at a male employee he would always quickly apologize.”

In 2017, DeSoto allegedly asked that her concerns about Butler be handled by UNI through a formal complaint process, but the school redirected her to a more informal process that didn’t involve a UNI investigation. According to the lawsuit, no formal investigation occurred until November 2024.

In 2023, the lawsuit claims, the school was facing potential budget shortfalls that would sharply reduce class offerings for students and so DeSoto provided a presentation on UNI’s budget to the faculty leadership.

“This presentation pointed out that UNI had cut faculty numbers by 34% since 2012 while the number of administration employees had actually increased by 6%,” the lawsuit alleges, adding that UNI leaders, who were monitoring her activity, then embarked on a “campaign of illegal conduct, all designed to drive DeSoto out of the university.”

DeSoto accused of discrimination

The lawsuit alleges the school’s leaders hatched a plan “to falsely frame DeSoto for disability discrimination with the intent to ultimately have DeSoto removed from the university.” According to the lawsuit, the discrimination allegation was based on a false assertion that DeSoto disliked students with disabilities and did not want to accommodate their needs with regard to testing.

The defendants, the lawsuit alleges, manipulated and misled a student “into thinking that a disability discrimination complaint was her only avenue to improve her grade” in DeSoto’s class.

The lawsuit alleges that while some of the specific allegations related to the charge of discrimination were either dismissed or resolved with a finding of “not guilty,” the evidence presented by the school disregarded facts in DeSoto’s favor.

After DeSoto complained about what she perceived as the “biased” nature of the investigation, the university hired Grand River Solutions to act as the decision-maker on the discrimination complaint.

In November 2024, UNI issued a decision finding DeSoto discriminated against the student. DeSoto appealed, and in January 2025, the school’s hired appeal officer vacated the decision and remanded the case back to Hughes, the decision-maker. The lawsuit claims Hughes then “made essentially same decision” as she had in November 2024.

In August 2025, with DeSoto’s second appeal still pending, UNI allegedly issued her “a letter of reprimand with major sanctions” that included a fine of $6,230, a requirement for mandatory training, a ban on serving on student committees, and restrictions on her internal communications.

The lawsuit claims the cumulative effect of UNI’s handling of the discrimination case and DeSoto’s complaints about Butler was “to shield Butler from scrutiny while subjecting DeSoto to a procedurally rigged process — harassing her, chilling her protected activity, and weaponizing the very procedures meant to ensure impartiality.”

According to the lawsuit, DeSoto is currently on medical leave due to severe work-related stress and her attempts to return to the workplace “have triggered overwhelming feelings of dread, avoidance, and physiological panic reactions.”

The lawsuit, originally filed in state court and moved this week to federal court, seeks damages for alleged violations of the federal Civil Rights Act, the Iowa Civil Rights Act, DeSoto’s First Amendment rights, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The lawsuit also seeks damages for an alleged breach of contract by UNI and for intentional infliction of emotional distress by Butler.

This article was first published by Iowa Capital Dispatch.