In a judgment handed down in the U.S. District Court of Western Michigan on Jan. 20, Judge Jane Beckering concluded that Anthony hadn't provided enough evidence to argue that MSU violated his due process rights.

The judge also found that then-College of Human Medicine Dean Aron Sousa and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Chair Dawn Misra, defendants in the case, were immune from Anthony's charges. Furthermore, Beckering threw out Anthony's accusations against the MSU Board of Trustees, noting that the governing body isn't a person and therefore can't be sued for damages.

In an email to The State News, Anthony wrote that he "had hope for a jury trial with a discovery process to get all the evidence out in clear view."

"Without a discovery process and MSU's characterization of my offense as 'minor,' we still do not know the nature of that MSU investigation nor what evidence it disclosed."

Sousa, Misra, and each of their attorneys did not respond to emails for comment before publication.

MSU Spokesperson Amber McCann declined to comment on the dismissal, saying the university does not comment on litigation.

The case largely revolved around the timing of a letter sent to Anthony by Misra in early 2022, in which she notified him of her "intent to discipline" him due to a series of concerns Misra had about Anthony's conduct.

It wasn't the first time Anthony's conduct at work had been called into question. Anthony had been "counseled" for unprofessional conduct in June 2019, according to the court filing, and had been warned by the previous department chair to “refrain from acting disrespectfully and inappropriately toward staff, drafting overly long emails, overloading staff with work, and assigning staff duties beyond those listed in an approved list.”

Misra's 2022 letter stated that his "problematic behaviors" from 2019 had "only continued" and outlined policies that his behavior allegedly violated. The letter also stated that he would be removed from his position as part of a National Institute of Health-funded research project, banned from receiving pre-award support for grant submissions for one year, and denied supplemental funding for any NIH education grants.

Anthony, in his lawsuit, had alleged that Misra had not given him enough time to respond to the notice-to-discipline letter, nor had he been informed about what he was being accused of. (Misra notified Anthony that he had seven days to respond in writing to the letter, according to the filing.)

The judge ruled that Misra's letter was "reasonably calculated to give Anthony notice about the anticipated action against him and afforded him an opportunity to respond.” Furthermore, Anthony's response to the letter — in which he annotated her accusations and "provided more context about each one" — showed "he was well aware of the behavior to which Misra was referring," the judge wrote.

In March 2022, Anthony filed an internal grievance with MSU's Faculty Grievance Committee against Misra and Sousa, alleging that Misra was, in reality, retaliating against Anthony for actions he took when he worked at Johns Hopkins University — which are not specified in the court filing — and that Misra violated his free speech rights when disciplining him.

In April, the panel assigned to review the complaint dismissed Anthony's grievance on jurisdictional grounds.

A few months following the panel's findings, Misra and Sousa removed Anthony from his position as principal investigator of the five-year National Institute of Health-funded grant project.

"In this case, the reasons Michigan State gave the NIH (to remove Anthony) are immaterial," the judge wrote. "What matters is the reasons Michigan State gave Anthony in advance of taking the actions they did, and whether he had notice of those reasons and an opportunity to contest them."