MSU hires law firm to investigate discrimination claims

Du'Sean Howard

John D. Hammons Jr.

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Last edited 12:48 p.m., Dec. 8, 2015

The Missouri State University Board of Governors voted to hire Ellis, Ellis, Hammons & Johnson PC to investigate allegations of discriminatory practices at the school.

The action announced yesterday comes after a MoveOn.org petition launched by a Springfield businessman accused the school of mistreating its first black vice president, Ken Coopwood. The petition had 117 signatures as of 10:10 a.m.

In the petition, Du'Sean Howard, who provides freight transportation services via Kojo LLC, claims Coopwood earns less in salary and has a lesser funded division than other vice presidents at MSU. Coopwood, who was hired in 2011 as vice president for diversity and inclusion, said through an assistant he would not be speaking with media until the investigation is complete.

When Coopwood was selected in September to lead MSU’s Climate Study Response Task Force, charged with analyzing the findings of a March diversity survey of the Springfield campus, Howard said that left internal units within his department without “leadership for the change these efforts should provoke.”

“I’ve learned through students and others in the community that, in fact, staff within Coopwood’s division have been despicable and hostile toward him, even (creating) circumstances against him which made his leadership appear to be both faulty and unethical in an effort to gain favor with senior administration,” Howard wrote in the petition. “I saw for myself, when asking about his division's budget and how his staff were being utilized, that his effort to develop his staff and expand the work of his division was not being supported in any way that proved the university was serious about diversity.”

The petition called on a response from MSU, as well as moving it forward to Gov. Jay Nixon if necessary.

In a statement, MSU board Chairman Stephen Hoven said lead investigator John D. Hammons Jr. would be assisted by Jessica Hill and Nicole Hutson. The investigation by the Ellis, Ellis, Hammons & Johnson attorneys is expected to be complete by Dec. 30. MSU spokeswoman Andrea Mostyn said the school has authorized up to $40,000 for the effort.

“While we feel Ken Coopwood has been treated fairly as an employee of Missouri State, in the interest of openness and transparency, we have engaged an outside investigator to conduct an independent review of the allegations and charges that have been made via the petition,” said Hoven, system vice president for government affairs and public policy for St. Louis-based SSM Health.