FIX EXCLUSIVES
ANALYSIS
The University of Missouri cleared a professor of racism allegations after a fellow academic reported her to the school’s bias team for asking a student to give an update on her research, according to documents obtained by The College Fix.
The result of the investigation highlights criticisms of bias reporting systems, which can include ratting people out based on hearsay evidence.
Professor Michael Garcia filed the complaint with Mizzou’s bias response team based on what a “senior graduate student” told him. The Fix recently obtained hundreds of pages of bias reports for fall 2024 semester after filing a public records request.
Garcia accused a fellow biology professor of “holding students of color to lower standards than majority students” because she accused a graduate student of plagiarizing from an undergraduate.
The graduate student who made this allegation to Garcia also complained about the accused professor asking her to get an update from an undergraduate student who had taken sick time.
“I do have to mention that the undergraduate submitted her paper first,” Garcia wrote in his Oct. 2024 complaint. “Thus, if chronology is the only thing being considered this would make sense. However, it would seem odd for a senior graduate student to plagiarize an undergraduate.”
Christopher Ave, the director of media relations at Mizzou, confirmed to The Fix over email that “the University of Missouri Office of Institutional Equity reviewed the matter,” and “no information was identified to indicate a policy violation,” so “the matter was closed.”
The Fix reached out to Garcia over email multiple times in the past several weeks, asking how he views the result of the complaint, how often students come to him with complaints about other faculty, and how he determines whether allegations are valid.
When The Fix called the media relations number at Mizzou, asking for Garcia, the department said that he had retired from the school and no longer had a phone number linked with Mizzou. Garcia himself faced a lawsuit in 2015 for allegations that he made offensive comments toward a Muslim student, although that case has been dismissed.
A free speech expert told The Fix that bias reports can create a chilling environment for faculty speech.
“The threat of investigation or even punishment over a bias complaint could certainly contribute to that widespread chill of faculty voice,” Laura Beltz with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told The Fix.
Beltz said that “reporting forms should solely solicit reports of misconduct,” while students often use them as a way of reporting “examples of speech that are constitutionally protected.”
Beltz referenced a FIRE report from 2024, which found that “23% of faculty worry about losing their jobs because someone misunderstands something they have said or done.” The study also reported that “27% of faculty feel unable to speak freely for fear of how students, administrators, or other faculty would respond.”
Student reported to bias team for using anti-gay slur in phone
Students and staff at Mizzou submitted complaints on a variety of speech-related issues.
A Sept. 2, 2024, incident involved a resident assistant reporting a student for an offensive comment that did not offend the person it was directed at.
On Sept. 6, 2024, someone was reported for making a personal Facebook post about foreign professors. “These comments make me hesitant to recommend the University of Missouri as a place of work or education for as long as this individual works here. His comments clearly make MU an unsafe place for people who may be targeted as ‘foreign-born’. His comments are racist and xenophobic, and he should face some consequences.”
On Sept. 6, 2024, a professor submitted a complaint about an incident that happened in 2023. A female student told her professor about a Walmart run-in on July 27, 2023, where another professor complimented her, and she felt uncomfortable with that compliment.
On Nov. 3, 2024, a residence life staffer reported someone for saving a contact in their phone using the word “faggot.”
On Nov. 6, 2024, a professor reported an incident of students fighting about the election, even though the students apologized to each other after the argument.
The Fix also recently reported on a bias complaint at Mizzou where a library staffer was reported for saying that “being trans is fine as long as they aren’t non-binary.”
Editor’s note: The full 635 pages of bias reports are available for anyone who seeks them. Please email Matt Lamb at [email protected] for the files.
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