Cornell Professor Sues Wesleyan Over Photo

If you've missed this story so far, here's some background:

When the [Wesleyan University] Office of Public Safety sent an e-mail last May to students, faculty, and parents regarding Stephen Morgan, the alleged killer of Johanna Justin-Jinich ’10, they attached two photos. One of the photos, which was obtained from a driver’s license database, was quickly found to be a different Stephen Morgan. While many follow-up e-mails were sent to the University community with updates on the case, no mention was made of the incorrect photo, which also appeared on the University website.

Now, Dr. Stephen L. Morgan, the Cornell professor whose photograph appeared in news sources across the country as a wanted killer, is suing the University, claiming three counts of knowing falsehood, recklessness, and negligence.

Certainly, this was a terrible situation. It was a time of panic and tragedy at Wesleyan, and in that university's haste to provide information to an impatient press, someone did not perform due diligence in making sure that they had the right photograph.

Professor Morgan's decision to sue strikes me as the wrong decision. It should be obvious to everyone who has personal or professional associations with Morgan that he is not the one who committed the Wesleyan murder. People would have only been confused if they recognized his face on the news, which further limits the pool of affected people.

The lawsuit seems to center around the Wesleyan legal counsel's refusal to submit a public apology:

The post went on to explain that David Winakor, the University’s general legal counsel, provided an insufficient explanation for the incident, and refused to provide a public apology, claiming the University “did nothing wrong.” It was at this point, according to the post, that Morgan chose to file his lawsuit.

So, why doesn't Wesleyan release some sort of official apology to Professor Morgan, and then everyone can continue with their lives? This seems to be the type of issue which does not need to be resolved in court.

Update: Professor Morgan emails to draw our attention to this post, which has some discussion of the merits of the case. A key point seems to be that the Connecticut State Police failed to give Wesleyan permission to publicize the picture of Morgan; it was intended for internal use only.