OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL
The University of Texas System
201 West 7th Street
Austin, Texas 78701
Telephone (512) 499-4462
Fax (512) 499-4523
Confidential and Privileged: Attorney-Client
Communication and Work Product:
Compliance Review Materials
DATE:
June 22, 2015
SUBJECT:
Jesse Acosta Sexual Harassment Complaint Summary
On May 19, 2015 at 11:24 pm, an anonymous individual contacted the U.T. Tyler Ethics and
Compliance Employee Hotline and alleged that Jesse Acosta, Vice President for Administration
and Chief Business Officer at UT Tyler, was bullying, demeaning, and sexually harassing
women under his employ. Our office attempted to make contact with the anonymous
complainant to get additional information, but as is often the case with an anonymous complaint,
the complainant never responded to our follow up communications.
Review Process
Michael Donley, University Counsel at U.T. Tyler, was the U.T. System point of contact for this
review. Please note that Mr. Donley was candid and cooperative in assisting with this review.
Due to the vague nature of the initial complaint, U.T. System took a cross sectional interview
approach. System did not attempt to interview every individual who works under Mr. Acosta.
Rather, U.T. System interviewed a wide cross section of individuals who worked under Mr.
Acosta, from Assistant Vice Presidents to administrative assistants. System interviewed a total
of 13 people. The majority of the interviews took place on the U.T. Tyler campus on the week of
June 8, 2015. Due to scheduling issues, some interviews were conducted by phone. All
witnesses were candid and cooperative.
Factual Summary
After thorough review, our office found that Mr. Acosta’s general management style is
aggressively dominant. Mr. Acosta has made numerous improper statements regarding women’s
appearance. There are credible allegations regarding instances of improper touching. Mr.
Acosta has made improper statements regarding FMLA and national origin issues.
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Discussion and Conclusions
U.T. Tyler’s policy on sexual harassment states,
The University of Texas at Tyler is committed to the principle that the
University’s working and learning environment be free from inappropriate
conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual misconduct and sexual harassment in any form
will not be tolerated and individuals who engage in such conduct will be subject
to disciplinary action.
While each witness brought his or her own perspective to the events that have occurred since Mr.
Acosta became Chief Business Officer, each depiction was consistent. The conduct of Mr.
Acosta has been corroborated by witnesses in multiple departments, with job titles ranging from
Assistant Vice President to Administrative Assistant. With such a wide cross section of
individuals interviewed, U.T. System can be confident in the accuracy of the events depicted in
this report.
Based upon the information provided by our witnesses, Mr. Acosta manages his employees
through intimidation and fear. In more ordinary circumstances such a management style is
unfortunate. However, coupled with improper and inadvisable instances of gender-based
misconduct, Mr. Acosta has created an intimidating, hostile, and offensive environment. While
there are no allegations or evidence of quid pro quo sexual harassment, the number of instances
of clearly improper conduct constitutes a violation of U.T. Tyler’s policy on sexual harassment.
The behavior of Mr. Acosta is not befitting an employee of the University of Texas at Tyler, and
we recommend his immediate termination.
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