Michigan State settles lawsuit with former MSU Native American Institute leader
EAST LANSING — Michigan State University has settled with Christie Poitra, the former interim director of MSU's Native American Institute who accused the university of failing to address her harassment and discrimination complaints and retaliating against her.
The settlement totaled $150,000, said Poitra's attorney Elizabeth Abdnour, and is the result of litigation lasting nearly two years between Poitra and the university. Abdnour said $50,000 will go to herself for contingency pay, $70,000 was compensation for emotional distress and $30,000 was compensation for lost wages.
As part of the settlement of a federal lawsuit filed in January 2022, Poitra will not be able to be hired by MSU in the future, which is not uncommon in a settlement like this one, Abdnour said.
In 2018, one of Poitra's colleagues reported her boss, John Norder, the former director of the Native American Institute, for his inappropriate and offensive behavior toward Poitra. Several days later, Poitra spoke to MSU's Office of Institutional Equity to report she had been repeatedly harassed by Norder, and Poitra sued MSU in 2022 because of how she said she was consequently treated.
MSU's Office of Institutional Equity found Norder violated the university's sexual misconduct policy, and he was suspended for four weeks. Norder was removed as director of the Native American Institute when Poitra filed the OIE report, and he was never reinstated. He is still listed as an associate professor in the anthropology department.
As assistant director of the Native American Institute, Poitra began handling his duties as well as her own, and it took more than a year for her to be formally named as interim director. It wasn't until six months after this that she received a new contract and pay raise.
Three years later, in 2021, Poitra still had not been named permanent director of the NAI, and she said that even with her pay raise, she was making $30,000 less than Norder had. Poitra said she had more experience at the time than Norder had when he started as director because she had direct experience working with Native American communities.
Poitra believed that these incidents demonstrated MSU retaliated against her
"Instead of protecting and supporting Dr. Poitra, MSU has left Dr. Poitra continuously exposed to discrimination, harassment, and retaliation; failed to enforce its own no-contact directive against her abuser; forced her to shoulder significantly more work than any reasonable individual should be expected to perform; denied her equitable pay and professional title; and shrunk the budget of and even threatened to dissolve NAI," reads Poitra's federal complaint.
Abdnour said that Poitra is happy with the settlement, and excited to move forward with her life.
"The biggest relief for her is to be done, and she believes she did what she could to hold MSU accountable," Abdnour said.
Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@lsj.com
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State settles lawsuit with former MSU Native American Institute leader
