© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

UMKC Professor Suspended With Pay After Report That He Exploited Students For Labor

Elle Moxley
/
KCUR 89.3 file photo
UMKC Chancellor Mauli Agrawal has suspended prominent pharmacy professor after a report he exploited students for free labor.

UPDATED at 3:20 p.m. Nov. 20 with details from a lawsuit filed against UMKC and Ashim Mitra — University of Missouri-Kansas City Chancellor C. Mauli Agrawal suspended a prominent pharmacy professor Tuesday after a Kansas City Star report detailed students' allegations that Dr. Ashim Mitra exploited them for free labor.

The allegations are also contained in a lawsuit filed by Mridul Mukherji, another professor in the UMKC School of Pharmacy. According to court documents, “(Mukherji) has repeatedly reported to ... UMKC that Defendant Mitra has been allegedly abusing Indian nationals for more than 15 years, which would date back to the 1990s if accurate.”

A review of Mitra's behavior was already underway when Agrawal took over as chancellor in June. In a statement released after the article was published Sunday, Agrawal said UMKC will be "expanding” the investigation.

Mukherji claimed in the lawsuit to have faced discrimination and harassment after trying to report Mitra’s behavior. In 2017, the lawsuit said, UMKC police had “to respond and defuse a disagreement” between the men, after Mukherji had “countless requests” to not have to meet with Mitra because he “feared for his safety.”

Mitra’s attorney didn’t respond to KCUR’s request for comment. But Mitra told the Star in a statement that he'd invited the students to his house for "work related to their courses of study" but didn't have them "perform chores unrelated to their students." He also told the Star that he didn't "understand the suggestion that anyone was concerned with their visas being at risk."

Mitra's UMKC biography shows he became chairman of the pharmaceutical sciences division in 1994.

KCUR is licensed to the University of Missouri Board of Curators and is an editorially independent community service of the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Lisa Rodriguez is a reporter and the afternoon newscaster for KCUR 89.3. Follow her on Twitter @larodrig

Elle Moxley covers education for KCUR. You can reach her on Twitter @ellemoxley.

Slow news days are a thing of the past. As KCUR’s news director, I want to cut through the noise, provide context to the headlines, and give you news you can use in your daily life – information that will empower you to make informed decisions about your neighborhood, your city and the region. Email me at lisa@kcur.org.
Elle Moxley covered education for KCUR.
KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and award-winning podcasts.
Your donation helps keep nonprofit journalism free and available for everyone.