Q: Can I sue my college professor for defamation?
I am a graduate student and he is the department chair. There was an incident in a class with undergraduates between them and the professor where I was the TA. I spoke to him asking why he didn’t come speak to me before accusing the professor, my advisor, of basically a criminal act. I told him this concerned me because he went along with the students without even collecting any actual evidence/proof or even getting the other side of the story. This conversation was a casual one and the conversation I thought was fine. He then the next day went to the dean in writing through email of the college and said that I had said a bunch of things I never said. Some of the items he mentioned I said were based in a small amount of truth but he absolutely took everything out of context and blatantly lied about my exact words to make me sound crazy. He then called me unstable and insinuated I may have done permanent damage to my reputation.
A: Before escalating the matter to litigation, check to see if the school has an ombudsman who may help address the conflict.
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