Subject: RE: Mitigating Defamatory Assertions
From: Christopher Jewell <[email-masked]>
To: Julie O’Sullivan <[email-masked]>, Gary Peller <[email-masked]>, All Faculty and Staff <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 21:58:34 +0000

If you'll pardon my temerity, I'd like to make a suggestion. Last year we had a town hall to discuss race relations and policing. I think it was right after the Baltimore riots. I attended it, and I really appreciated listening to the insights and opinions that were shared. In my mind, that's one of the greatest things about working at an institute of higher education: to exchange ideas, to learn and to grow is our core mission.

The death of a towering figure such as Justice Scalia will provoke strong feelings. I'd like to think we can have a healthy and spirited debate about his legacy which doesn't light up the blogosphere. Email is a *terrible* venue for such a debate. May I suggest another town hall is in order?

Respectfully,

Christopher Jewell | Director of Systems Development &
Member of the Staff/AAP Advisory Council<http://staffaap.georgetown.edu/>
GEORGETOWN LAW | [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
McDonough 148 | 600 New Jersey Avenue NW | Washington DC 20001
Office: 202.662.9822 | Mobile: 703.298.1759
Website<http://www.law.georgetown.edu/ist/> | Twitter<http://twitter.com/law_ist>

From: Julie O’Sullivan
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2016 4:38 PM
To: Gary Peller <[email-masked]>; All Faculty and Staff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Mitigating Defamatory Assertions

Please, please, PLEASE stop.  At the very least, please omit me from further communications.  Best, jos

From: Gary Peller <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>
Date: Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 4:29 PM
To: All Faculty and Staff <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>
Subject: Mitigating Defamatory Assertions

Faculty and staff:

I am writing to correct  falsehoods about me contained in the recent email from Randy and Nick. I regret sending another communication on this subject but I hope you understand the need to mitigate any harm I've suffered from baseless falsehoods Randy and Nickhave spread about me.

Randy and Nick repeatedly charge that I sent my email to students in violation of our email policies. I have informed that that this is not true and have asked them to correct the falsehood. At Randy's request, I provided the authorizing email itself to him.

The right to communicate with the student body was a hard fought victory in this institution. I followed the procedures precisely in seeking and receiving prior authorization. I did nothing wrong. The accusation that I violated our rules charges dereliction of my professional duties and false and is actionable as a per se libel.

Nick has not responded to my requests for correction. Randy has written to me that he had a good faith basis for making the charge, but he won't share with me what it is. He insists that his accusations are nevertheless correct and refuses to make a retraction, despite receiving proof that my communication was authorized as required under our policies. Accordingly, I am writing to correct the lie.

Prior to this incident, I disagreed with Randy and Nick on many issues, but always assume they were honest and had basic personal integrity.

Gary