Former NU Professor's Lawsuit Against Media Dismissed

A former Northwestern University professor’s defamation lawsuit against a trio of media companies has been squashed for good.

A state appeals panel affirmed the dismissal of former philosophy professor Peter Ludlow’s defamation claim against Sun-Times Media, Cumulus Broadcasting and Fox Television Stations Inc. in connection with an article published regarding a student’s lawsuit against the school alleging sexual assault, according to the Cook County Record.

The case began in February of 2012 when the student and Ludlow attended an art exhibit pertinent to a class and then allegedly went to a restaurant together where Ludlow encouraged the underage student to drink wine. A sexual assault allegedly occurred later that night after the professor was accused of denying requests to take the student home and instead brought her to his apartment.

“The investigation determined (the student) was “unable to offer meaningful consent” and Ludlow had engaged in unwelcome and inappropriate sexual advances.

The article that initiated Ludlow’s defamation suit came in February of 2014 when the Sun-Times headlined the news of the student suing the University as: Student allegedly raped by professor suing Northwestern University.” Cumulus and Fox both published the same article and headline. The same day, counsel for Ludlow demanded the Sun-Times delete the reference to rape in the headline, which they did and the others followed suit. But the word still appeared in URLs and Twitter feeds containing the original headline.

Ludlow argued the student never claimed she was raped and the headline’s false statement had publicly cast him in a false light, but the appeal was dismissed for the final time on April 17.

more via the Cook County Record

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