After negotiations halted late last week, the investigation into the satirical blog SUCOLitis officially ended Tuesday with no charges filed against Len Audaer, a second-year Syracuse University College of Law student.

Audaer’s lawyer, Mark Blum, received an e-mail from faculty prosecutor Greg Germain on Tuesday afternoon with an attached letter that stated the investigation was over and it would be in the best interest of the parties not to proceed. A formal hard copy of the letter was also mailed to Blum.

‘In light of Mr. Audaer’s January 29 acceptance of responsibility and apologies, I have decided that it would not be in the best interest of the students who were the victims of the website for me to bring formal charges,’ Germain said in the letter sent to Blum that was obtained by The Daily Orange.

Audaer, who has been under investigation for harassment since October, admitted to being one of the authors of the blog Friday and apologized to four individuals who had reportedly found the blog offensive. Audaer announced he had sent out the e-mails Saturday on his website. Germain said he did not prompt Audaer’s ‘spontaneous admission and apology,’ according to the letter.

Audaer said he decided to apologize after the university issued a statement Thursday in response to a Huffington Post article that listed SU as the worst institution for free speech. The university-issued statement was a version of a confidential agreement that was being worked on in negotiations between Audaer and the law school, he said. With part of the confidential discussions in the open, Audaer said he viewed negotiations as over and decided to take the matter into his own hands.

SUCOLitis, a WordPress blog, began publishing satirical posts about students and professors in the law school in October. Shortly after, Audaer was notified a female student in the College of Law had named him in a harassment complaint about the blog, and an investigation by the College of Law into the blog began.

In January, the school and Audaer looked to negotiate a settlement and had a federal judge mediate the process. The blog went private Oct. 20 and was password-protected until Audaer was asked to arrange to have the blog taken down as part of the January negotiations.

Audaer said finally reaching the end was a relief.

‘I’m elated,’ he said. ‘It means I can get on with my studies.’

Germain could not be reached for comment.

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

Published on January 31, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride