Friday, October 5, 2001

Indiana Supreme Court Rules That a Former Professor Is a 'Cyberpredator' By JEFFREY R. YOUNG Indiana's Supreme Court ruled this week that a disgruntled former University of Evansville professor had acted as a "cyberpredator," and that his use of e-mail and Web pages represented an attempt to misuse the names of and to defame three university officials. The court upheld much of a lower court's injunction against the professor's online behavior. The former professor, William Felsher, did win a partial victory, however. The court agreed with Mr. Felsher's assertion that the university -- or any other corporation -- cannot claim a right under Indiana law to privacy protection in the way that individuals can. That part of the ruling was good news for several news organizations, which had filed briefs in support of the professor's case out of concern that they, too, could be sued by organizations for invasion of privacy. The university had claimed invasion of privacy as part of its original suit seeking an injunction against Mr. Felsher in 1999. Mr. Felsher, who had been dismissed from his job as a tenured professor of French in 1992, had been engaging in an unusual online campaign to protest personnel decisions at the university -- including the conditions of his own removal. First, Mr. Felsher set up a Web page with a series of articles critical of the university's actions. Then he sent e-mail messages to personnel offices at universities that were advertising vacant positions. The e-mail messages nominated Evansville's vice president for academic affairs, Larry W. Colter, and other top administrators for the vacant jobs, and then pointed to a page on Mr. Felsher's Web site that detailed his complaints against the same administrators. A key point in the university's argument was that Mr. Felsher had sent his messages from accounts that appeared to belong to the university's president, James Vinson, or to the two other administrators. That tactic, the three administrators said, represented a violation of privacy of the individuals and of the university. Mr. Felsher, however, said that he was simply trying to disseminate his views, and he called the university's lawsuit an attempt to block his viewpoints. The former professor said that "nobody in their right mind" would have thought that his messages had been sent by the administrators themselves. "People in academe needed to know what was going on," he added, "because they might even apply for a job" at Evansville. In a unanimous decision, however, the state's Supreme Court found that Mr. Felsher had violated the privacy rights of the university administrators. "He created the impostor websites and e-mail addresses for the sole purpose of harming the reputation of the University and its officials," the court said. The court upheld the injunction against Mr. Felsher's appropriating the "names and likenesses" of the administrators. W. Scott Shrode, vice president for development for the university, said the institution was "very pleased with the decision because it affirmed the lower courts in the aspect of our employees' right to privacy." "The university is only taking action to protect its employees from harassment," he added. Although the university's own claim to privacy rights was rejected, the court's decision suggested that the institution might be able to win similar relief under "other law not so far pleaded." Mr. Shrode said the university is consulting its lawyers to determine whether to file a suit to further protect the institution. "That hasn't been determined," he said. "Any future legal action would probably be partially dependent on Dr. Felsher's action." Fred Cate, a professor of communications law at Indiana University at Bloomington who has been following the case, said the decision "effectively eliminated the need" for the university to file another suit. "As long as the injunction stands, the university is going to be pretty well protected." Mr. Felsher is continuing his campaign using different methods. He has expanded his Web site with critical articles about the university, and he created another Web site providing details about his case. And nearly every month, he said, he dons his academic robes and stands near the entrance to the campus, pushing a grocery cart decorated with a poster announcing his Web addresses. Background article from The Chronicle: U. of Evansville Sues a Former Professor Over E-Mail Messages and Web Pages (3/12/1999) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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