Spring Break
Student at Butler University faced expulsion and lawsuits over blog
Amy McDavitt
Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: News
When Jess Zimmerman started a blog about his school in October 2008, he was only a speck on the map that is the World Wide Web.
Zimmerman was then a sophomore at Butler University in Indianapolis, and he wanted to promote open conversation at his relatively small school. He did not anticipate when he wrote that the "TrueBU Blog" "will simply try to tell the true, anonymous stories of Butler University," he would later face a lawsuit accusing his writing of libel and defamation of two members of Butler's administration.
"I was shocked, because I thought that what I was writing wasn't that bad," said Zimmerman of his reaction to learning of the lawsuit. He worked as a newspaper editor for three years in high school and was aware of what constitutes libel.
"In my mind, I didn't even come close to that standard," he said.
Though Zimmerman wrote the blog under the alias "Soodoo Nym," who was named as the defendant in the lawsuit, Zimmerman has acknowledged that he wrote and maintained the "TrueBU."
The blog caused controversy when Zimmerman, now a junior, began to write about the dismissal of Andrea Gullickson as chair of the School of Music at Butler's Jordan College of Fine Arts. The dismissal became the topic of much contention on the campus when Gullickson was sent differing messages from different administrators regarding her dismissal and these administrators did not follow up on several meetings in ways they promised to, according to the TrueBU posts on the subject. The posts investigating the issue included emails from Gullickson, JCFA Dean Peter Alexander, and information culled from tenured Butler faculty, graduate students, and other anonymous sources. These posts became the basis of the lawsuit brought against Soodoo Nym.
Statements such as Zimmerman's belief that "Dean Alexander acted inappropriately and inexcusably in handling this matter" and that his actions were "ridiculously irresponsible" were deemed defamatory and libelous toward Alexander and University Provost Jamie Comstock, about whom similar statements were made in TrueBU posts.
Zimmerman was then a sophomore at Butler University in Indianapolis, and he wanted to promote open conversation at his relatively small school. He did not anticipate when he wrote that the "TrueBU Blog" "will simply try to tell the true, anonymous stories of Butler University," he would later face a lawsuit accusing his writing of libel and defamation of two members of Butler's administration.
"I was shocked, because I thought that what I was writing wasn't that bad," said Zimmerman of his reaction to learning of the lawsuit. He worked as a newspaper editor for three years in high school and was aware of what constitutes libel.
"In my mind, I didn't even come close to that standard," he said.
Though Zimmerman wrote the blog under the alias "Soodoo Nym," who was named as the defendant in the lawsuit, Zimmerman has acknowledged that he wrote and maintained the "TrueBU."
The blog caused controversy when Zimmerman, now a junior, began to write about the dismissal of Andrea Gullickson as chair of the School of Music at Butler's Jordan College of Fine Arts. The dismissal became the topic of much contention on the campus when Gullickson was sent differing messages from different administrators regarding her dismissal and these administrators did not follow up on several meetings in ways they promised to, according to the TrueBU posts on the subject. The posts investigating the issue included emails from Gullickson, JCFA Dean Peter Alexander, and information culled from tenured Butler faculty, graduate students, and other anonymous sources. These posts became the basis of the lawsuit brought against Soodoo Nym.
Statements such as Zimmerman's belief that "Dean Alexander acted inappropriately and inexcusably in handling this matter" and that his actions were "ridiculously irresponsible" were deemed defamatory and libelous toward Alexander and University Provost Jamie Comstock, about whom similar statements were made in TrueBU posts.
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