Recently, a friend of mine was called out by our AP Literature Teacher, in a packet he printed out. A verbal altercation happened the day before, after she called him out (In a respectful manner) about getting some information on a quiz he made wrong. He kept her after class, and their "Talk" quickly became a shouting match, until he changed the subject and demanded an apology. The next day, he was absent, but had printed out a packet for us to work on. In the packet, he typed out a paragraph, calling the student out (Not by name, but as it happened in our class, we knew who he was talking about) and then continued to belittle her words, and point out that she had gotten the question wrong anyways, in a mocking manner. I would like to know if there are any legal documents in my state saying he has committed a crime, either by harassing her, or by humiliating her in front of her peers, as this is not the first time he's done something like this.
What your Professor did more likely than not did not rise to a crime. Could there be some civil liability? Possibly but I would think the conduct would need to have been more "outrageous." What he did do could have been a violation of FERPA. That is a student privacy law. However, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that a private person cannot sue under FERPA. If your friend is truly bothered by what happened she should speak to the department chair.
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