Professor Lacks Claim Over Loss of Ohio State Emeritus Status

Ohio State University administrators defeated an astrophysics professor’s bid to revive his claim that he was denied due process before being stripped of his emeritus status at the school following a sexual misconduct finding.

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said the professor didn’t show he had a constitutionally protected property interest in being an emeritus, a showing that was a necessary element of his procedural due process claim under 42 U.S.C. §1983.

That was so because the professor failed to allege that losing his emeritus status meaningfully changed his employment relationship with Ohio State as he ...