Paranoia's a healthy attitude to these things, these days, it seems.
In relation to saying "he's a lazy, good-for-nothing dosser" and whether
or not that's libel, I'd have to dig out my tort textbook to check but I
think he could, and you would have a possible defence of it being true.
However, I think there's some old case law that says that an
interdepartmental memo or similar between two employees can not be a
libel, as it is, in effect, the act of the employer - the employer
effectively sending itself a memo, so there is no "publication" of the
libel. It's a fairly esoteric area of law.
On the issue of someone not being accepted on a course on the basis of a
comment form a tutor, I'd worry slightly. If the comment was "he's lazy
and not doing any work" or somesuch, and the grades and academic record
bear that out, there's no problem. But if the subjective comment is not
able to be substantiated, and it was the sole or main basis for the
student not being kept on, then I'd be slightly wary. But then surely
it's a necessary part of a student's academic record to have a record of
their behaviour, I'd have thought, and so as long as the tutor isn't
making anything up there isn't (much of) a risk.
Easy answer is to not have personal comments on records, but then how do
you let other staff members know of problem students?
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dan Hallam
Sent: 21 April 2005 10:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Subjective comments on a students record
I didn't have anything specific in mind, just paranoia! I'm anticipating
a case where a student isn't taken onto a course because of a comment
about behaviour on a previous study that may have been down to a
personality clash between tutor and student.
I'm don't have any legal knowledge of this but also wouldn't comments
such as "He's a lazy, good-for-nothing dosser" be open to libel?
Thanks
Dan
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