Defamation, Due Process, And Legal Remedy?

I am a professor who seeks to rectify damage to my permanent records by a former and a current dean as well as by failing and/or malcontent students who have defamed me in writing with baseless allegations. One dean, in fact, solicited a written complaint from a disgruntled student six weeks after the student transferred from my class even though the student herself had not complained about me either in written or in verbal form until the dean not only telephoned her but also guided her in the use of specific language to use in the e-mail complaint (the dean doesn't deny her complicity).<P>I have kept detailed records and am currently attempting to expunge these letters from my permanent files. If I am unsuccessful (or even if I am successful) in their removal, do I have the basis for a lawsuit against my institution et al.? Finally, I was not given due process to confront the students over their allegations either before or after disciplinary letters accepting the students' allegations as fact were placed in my permanent file. Do I have a legal remedy for this failure?<P> Without any embellishment, I can assure the audience I have suffered this blight on an otherwise sterling academic career and record. Thank you so much for your response. Penny1212

Q1) "If I am unsuccessful (or even if I am successful) in their removal, do I have the basis for a lawsuit against my institution et al.?"
A1) Based on your post, no.

Q2) "Finally, I was not given due process to confront the students over their allegations either before or after disciplinary letters accepting the students' allegations as fact were placed in my permanent file. Do I have a legal remedy for this failure?"
A2) What was it a 'failure' of?? Is there a department or school policy specifying that you will be given 'due process'?? If not, your 'rights' have not been denied.

Q3) "Without any embellishment, I can assure the audience I have suffered this blight on an otherwise sterling academic career and record."
A3) And specifically what compensable damages have you suffered???

"Thank you so much for your response."
Your welcome.

Thanks for your response.<P>Yes, we have a handbook that gives us the right to appeal any violations of customary procedures of due process. Unfortunately, part of the problem lies in its vagueness, and I'm a kind of test case in the appeals process right now. Mediation of student complaints follow established and customary practices, meaning that a dean notifies a professor of a student complaint, sends the student back to the professor for a resolution. If both student and prof. cannot agree on a remedy, then the dean attempts to mediate the situation with both student and prof. in the same room. Failure to notify a professor about a complaining student until the complaint is registered in the permanent file violates due process, at least so in my eyes if not the law's eyes.<P>Damages are the threat of the administrators denying a renewal of a contract, whether annual or multi-year. The potential, then, of a disciplinary letter and inclusion of scurrilous complaints as if they are well-grounded can thwart the renewal and hence affect one's opportunity for employment at the current as well as at another university, for an application for a teaching position at another institution would reveal previous evaluations of conduct.
<P>Thank you again for writing. I note you did not address the dean's solicitation of a student. Specifically, the student claimed I mistreated her by kicking her out of class on opening day, a claim that fortified the dean's intense hostility toward me. Finally, the dean of academic affairs has already stated that my due process was violated. It is not yet in writing, however.
<P>Penny1212

I am sorry to hear that you as a professor feel that your rights are being violated. In my case, I am an student who feels that my rights are being violated. But in my case, everyone is against me and not the teacher. I have filed grade appeals but no one seems to be responding to my appeal, and thus are violating my rights. Well, at least you have your job. That is good. And if the dean is truly against you why do you think that the dean is against you??? Is it a race issue? A gender issue? If so maybe you should contact a lawyer for legal advice. That is what I am going to do. Good Luck with the bureaucrats at your college, and if you really feel that you are in the right,then you keep on fighting for justice. Never give up. A million people could be against you , but that does not make you wrong.

Angie, did you even look to see the DATE on this thread??
You have posted to a thread that is almost a year old (31 Mar 2002!).