defamatory remarks made about you

Jiro said:
oh. that's awful. I think you should start over and start telling us in a complete picture instead of bit by bit so we can better help you. Initially - I thought you were talking about your work.
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That is what I thought too. I get a bit weary of people when they add things as time goes on. Makes me wonder if they are making stuff up.
 
Tousi said:
Are we talking about an ADA violation here?
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I think it does. I've already gone through the process of filing a claim with the Office for Civil Rights and they investigated and found problems and etc. It is a long process.
 
Glenn said:
I think it does. I've already gone through the process of filing a claim with the Office for Civil Rights and they investigated and found problems and etc. It is a long process.
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then good for you for standing up for your rights. All the best!
 
Jiro said:
ah CWU. Let's see what departments they have.....

Student Affairs & Enrollment Management
Provost/Senior VP for Academic Affairs

and if this person is the professor... contact the professor's department director
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Not a professor.

The provost basically blew it off. Not really his department.

The VP of Student Affairs ... did nothing.
 
Glenn said:
Not a professor.

The provost basically blew it off. Not really his department.

The VP of Student Affairs ... did nothing.
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oh boy. oh boy. that's a serious matter. Hope it'll rain shit on him. hard.
 
rockdrummer said:
Oh lord! We are not back in George Washington's time and we are talking about an issue between you and another coworker. Keep it in perspective man. If the guy is not doing his job and it directly affects you and the assistant attorney general agrees with you then do something about it. You didn't mention those facts in your original post.
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Show me where I said it was my workplace. Then read the post where I said I was a STUDENT.
 
Glenn said:
Show me where I said it was my workplace. Then read the post where I said I was a STUDENT.
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No you didn't say workplace. I made an assumption based on your statements about telling the boss and the person not doing their job. Apologies for the misunderstanding but my comments would still apply if it were a job or a school situation.

And yes Tousi you may be so bold. :h5:
 
The reason that I thought that it was an employment situation is because defamation usually relates to someone's job performance. Slander/libel requires that the statement comment negatively reflect on a person's job performance or some other fact that hold a person up to public ridicule (like saying someone has a sexually transmitted disease). Someone saying that you're not a good student is not defamation. You need to proceed under some other legal theory.

Best of luck getting everything worked out. I hope that you get the help that you need soon.
 
Jiro said:
right. Glenn - next time you make thread like this.... it's best to give us some more detail in the first place instead of revealing it bit by bit as the time goes.
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More detail. Ok.

I was angry because this person who defamed me would not provide appropriate accommodations. He's the coordinator and that is his job. But he's more interested in doing what his boss tells him to do, even if it violates ADA.

So sent angry emails. I now know that was inappropriate. But he interpreted this as a threat to cause him physical injury. He's in a wheelchair.

Now anyone who knows me even casually knows what a lot of crap that is. But he took it seriously enough to tell someone in Student Affairs who has the power to expel me...a discipline guy who deals with student conduct violations.

I got called into this guy's office and we talked. I said no way would I ever hurt the guy physically. And there was no proof of my intent...none. No covert or even overt threats were made against him.

That's defamation. It is the same as telling a police officer "Hey that guy looked at me funny. Arrest him! and the officer actually taking it seriously enough to talk to me about it. The officer does have powers over me, just like the guy dealing with discipline.

I did tell the person's boss' boss but nothing was done.

This all happened a while ago and it kind of blew over. Fast forward to the present and this person is again trying to get me in hot water by demanding that I retract statements I made to the assistant attorney general. The statements I made were all TRUE...and what he is complaining about (my statement that he didn't respond) has nothing to do with the real issue--which is the he (his office) did not do his job appropriately last quarter.

He is not required by law to respond to me. But his office IS required by both state and federal statutes to provide appropriate accommodations, which, in my opinion, he did not do. And now the assistant attorney general is telling CWU to provide those appropriate accommodations--not something the administration was ever willing to do since this new director came here and hired this guy.

All this has been going on since ... February 2008. And FINALLY there is someone who can effectuate appropriate accommodations who agrees with me that what I was receiving was not appropriate.
 
Glenn said:
More detail. Ok.

I was angry because this person who defamed me would not provide appropriate accommodations. He's the coordinator and that is his job. But he's more interested in doing what his boss tells him to do, even if it violates ADA.

So sent angry emails. I now know that was inappropriate. But he interpreted this as a threat to cause him physical injury. He's in a wheelchair.

Now anyone who knows me even casually knows what a lot of crap that is. But he took it seriously enough to tell someone in Student Affairs who has the power to expel me...a discipline guy who deals with student conduct violations.

I got called into this guy's office and we talked. I said no way would I ever hurt the guy physically. And there was no proof of my intent...none. No covert or even overt threats were made against him.

That's defamation. It is the same as telling a police officer "Hey that guy looked at me funny. Arrest him! and the officer actually taking it seriously enough to talk to me about it. The officer does have powers over me, just like the guy dealing with discipline.

I did tell the person's boss' boss but nothing was done.

This all happened a while ago and it kind of blew over. Fast forward to the present and this person is again trying to get me in hot water by demanding that I retract statements I made to the assistant attorney general. The statements I made were all TRUE...and what he is complaining about (my statement that he didn't respond) has nothing to do with the real issue--which is the he (his office) did not do his job appropriately last quarter.

He is not required by law to respond to me. But his office IS required by both state and federal statutes to provide appropriate accommodations, which, in my opinion, he did not do. And now the assistant attorney general is telling CWU to provide those appropriate accommodations--not something the administration was ever willing to do since this new director came here and hired this guy.

All this has been going on since ... February 2008. And FINALLY there is someone who can effectuate appropriate accommodations who agrees with me that what I was receiving was not appropriate.
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And you're bitching?

You got his ass in a corner... Then now you're finally getting things done.

Man.. Be the better man. Smile and wave it off. Any more threats, forward that to the Asst. Attorney General. Let him know that.

I don't see a problem here, I see progress.
 
If this is about ADA violations, you need an attorney who specializes in that area. Defamation won't get you anywhere. Try contacting your state advocacy organization.
 
posts from hell said:
And you're bitching?

You got his ass in a corner... Then now you're finally getting things done.

Man.. Be the better man. Smile and wave it off. Any more threats, forward that to the Asst. Attorney General. Let him know that.

I don't see a problem here, I see progress.
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I don't have his ass in a corner if he is still doing this crap.

If I just let it go, he will keep doing it.

I am the better man because I am not doing that to him...not trying to get him in trouble for whatever reason. I just want him to do his job.
 
sallylou said:
If this is about ADA violations, you need an attorney who specializes in that area. Defamation won't get you anywhere. Try contacting your state advocacy organization.
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I'm going to meet with someone tomorrow regarding this.

And for the real issue at hand--not providing appropriate accommodations--I am already doing something about that with a private non-profit firm specializing in disability rights.
 
Glenn said:
I don't have his ass in a corner if he is still doing this crap.

If I just let it go, he will keep doing it.

I am the better man because I am not doing that to him...not trying to get him in trouble for whatever reason. I just want him to do his job.
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You do, you just don't see it.

If he says to retract the statement to the AG. That is telling you something BIG.

I never said to let it go. Pressure pressure pressure. KEEP that statement where he is threatening you. Forward it all to the AG.

You are not trying to get him in trouble, you're trying to get him to do his job. However the issue is he will get in trouble regardless. Don't worry about that. If it takes some fire under the feet to get some stuff going on, DO IT.

Don't be angry, don't be all hatin'. You already have some big people on your end.
 
posts from hell said:
You do, you just don't see it.

If he says to retract the statement to the AG. That is telling you something BIG.

I never said to let it go. Pressure pressure pressure. KEEP that statement where he is threatening you. Forward it all to the AG.

You are not trying to get him in trouble, you're trying to get him to do his job. However the issue is he will get in trouble regardless. Don't worry about that. If it takes some fire under the feet to get some stuff going on, DO IT.

Don't be angry, don't be all hatin'. You already have some big people on your end.
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Good points.

All that he ever does is what his boss (director) tells him to do. It was his director who told him to provide the poor accommodations last quarter.

Whether it was him or his director who thought up the idea about me harming him physically doesn't matter as much as who actually said it. I feel he should be accountable for what he says regardless of whether his director told him to say it or it was entirely his own idea.

Same goes for this retraction. If I refuse to retract, he might try to get the guy in charge of discipline involved again.

What's going on here is that he is between me and the director. I'm telling the assistant AG that I did not receive appropriate accommodations last quarter. What the AG does is call over and says "Glenn says ... " Can he turn around and tell the director that my accommodations sucked? Sure, but it wouldn't be very good for him job-wise. So instead of doing that, he turns around and lashes out at me and tries to get me in hot water.

The same kind of situation happened before when he made up that line about being afraid I would physically harm him. I wasn't happy about my accommodations and he has no power to change that, but he is feeling under pressure, so he tries to get me off his back about it and just accept poor accommodations.

I'm thinking that if I do go through with this process and it becomes formal, it will be further documentation of the director's poor job performance. The director is the real problem here; everyone in the staff under him that I deal with is just following what he wants done.

Who ever heard of a disability support services director who has been investigated five times and fired once? That this is continually tolerated and not dealt with is going to make things worse before they get better.
 
Glenn said:
More detail. Ok.

I was angry because this person who defamed me would not provide appropriate accommodations. He's the coordinator and that is his job. But he's more interested in doing what his boss tells him to do, even if it violates ADA.

So sent angry emails. I now know that was inappropriate. But he interpreted this as a threat to cause him physical injury. He's in a wheelchair.

Now anyone who knows me even casually knows what a lot of crap that is. But he took it seriously enough to tell someone in Student Affairs who has the power to expel me...a discipline guy who deals with student conduct violations.

I got called into this guy's office and we talked. I said no way would I ever hurt the guy physically. And there was no proof of my intent...none. No covert or even overt threats were made against him.

That's defamation. It is the same as telling a police officer "Hey that guy looked at me funny. Arrest him! and the officer actually taking it seriously enough to talk to me about it. The officer does have powers over me, just like the guy dealing with discipline.

I did tell the person's boss' boss but nothing was done.

This all happened a while ago and it kind of blew over. Fast forward to the present and this person is again trying to get me in hot water by demanding that I retract statements I made to the assistant attorney general. The statements I made were all TRUE...and what he is complaining about (my statement that he didn't respond) has nothing to do with the real issue--which is the he (his office) did not do his job appropriately last quarter.

He is not required by law to respond to me. But his office IS required by both state and federal statutes to provide appropriate accommodations, which, in my opinion, he did not do. And now the assistant attorney general is telling CWU to provide those appropriate accommodations--not something the administration was ever willing to do since this new director came here and hired this guy.

All this has been going on since ... February 2008. And FINALLY there is someone who can effectuate appropriate accommodations who agrees with me that what I was receiving was not appropriate.
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Glenn - :ty: for detail. Now I understand your situation. What a huge ugly mess. And yes you should have known better not to send off angry emails to anybody. All kind of communication in angry tone is always treated seriously because of the latest school violence. It doesn't matter if you are a harmless guy who wouldn't hurt a fly or not. They don't know that nor do they care because nobody's going to take a chance. It can jeopardize your future. But I'm glad it didn't come to the point where you can get expelled and reported to the authority.

I just want to clarify for you on what can constitute as "Defamation of Character". By law - it obviously means a false statement made about you that resulted in "damage" to plaintiff such as in loss of monetary value/profit, employment, etc. In your case - that coordinator's defamation of you resulted in academic difficulty and possibly a loss of college diploma. Do you have a case there? probably. I have to warn you that this kind of defamation suit is notoriously difficult. Most ends in settlement with little result to gain.

You already know that it's really best to proceed this entire situation with cool head. Just employ a clever tactic to make the coordinator and/or director into making incriminating statements and retain all kinds of evidence (email, fax, letter, etc.) to prove your case. Document Document Document Document everything!!!!! With that - it's an easy slam-dunk case.... the most likely outcome is that the university especially at upper senior level would come down hard on the director/coordinator to issue an apology for you and to comply with your requests with no issue. Lawsuit is most likely not needed because it's time-consuming and expensive. You're lucky to have big man on your side like Attorney General.

Be cool. Be professional. and most importantly - Be Firm! Make sure you got the university lawyer and university president know about this situation (which you probably did). Do try to limit your contact with director and coordinator since they're not being cooperative. There's no point in beating around the bush with them. Let the AG/University Prez handles it. I was thoroughly lectured on this as part of my course. It was an eye-opener learning experience for me on how to deal with any kind of situation like this.

Good Luck! :cool2:
 
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Jiro said:
Glenn - :ty: for detail. Now I understand your situation. What a huge ugly mess. And yes you should have known better not to send off angry emails to anybody. All kind of communication in angry tone is always treated seriously because of the latest school violence. It doesn't matter if you are a harmless guy who wouldn't hurt a fly or not. They don't know that nor do they care because nobody's going to take a chance. It can jeopardize your future. But I'm glad it didn't come to the point where you can get expelled and reported to the authority.

I just want to clarify for you what can constitute as "Defamation of Character". By law - it obviously means a false statement made about you that resulted in "damage" to plaintiff as in loss of monetary value/profit, employment, etc. In your case - that coordinator's defamation of you resulted in academic difficulty and possibly a loss of college diploma. Do you have a case there? probably. I have to warn you that this kind of defamation suit is notoriously difficult. Most ends in settlement with little result to gain.

You already know that it's really best to proceed this entire situation with cool head. Just employ a clever tactic to make the coordinator and/or director into making incriminating statements and retain all kinds of evidence (email, fax, letter, etc.) to prove your case. Document Document Document Document everything!!!!! With that - it's an easy slam-dunk case.... the most likely outcome is that the university especially at upper senior level would come down hard on the director/coordinator to issue an apology for you and to comply with your requests with no issue. Lawsuit is most likely not needed because it's time-consuming and expensive. You're lucky to have big man on your side like Attorney General.

Be cool. Be professional. and most importantly - Be Firm! Make sure you got the university lawyer and university president know about this situation (which you probably did). Do try to limit your contact with director and coordinator since they're not being cooperative. There's no point in beating around the bush with them. Let the AG/University Prez handles it. I was thoroughly lectured on this as part of my course. It was an eye-opener learning experience for me on how to deal with any kind of situation like this.

Good Luck! :cool2:
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Yes dealing with a University is very difficult and they can make your life a living hell. I left Texas Tech because of this....

In my case I took a US History course. I had a 97 average going into the final exam. In this course the final counted the same as all the tests and could be dropped....but it had to be taken. The syllabus stated that no make up exams would be given for any reason. As luck would have it my grandfather passed away and the funeral was scheduled for the day of the final. I asked to take the final early even but I was denied. I was given a zero for the final and received a C in the course. I fought it for a year because had I shown up for the final and answered one question I would have received an A. The University never gave in. I lost all of my appeals and they made my life hell until I left.
 
I'm going after the coordinator more for his retraction demand than the defamation thing. The defamation thing is to illustrate a pattern of behavior in that office. And it is difficult to prove in court.

Anyways, defamation or retractions aren't the real issue here. They are just a symptom of the real problem--the director.
 
Glenn said:
I'm going after the coordinator more for his retraction demand than the defamation thing. The defamation thing is to illustrate a pattern of behavior in that office. And it is difficult to prove in court.

Anyways, defamation or retractions aren't the real issue here. They are just a symptom of the real problem--the director.
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yep. focus on a very big picture - the lack of accommodation. the incompetence on their part. keep on pressing on that very specific issue. If you win this - you most likely may have paved a way for people before you.

Keep on truckin'! :cool2:
 
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