UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ BRADLEY M. PETERSON, Ph.D., │ Plaintiff-Appellant, │ > No. 23-3338 │ v. │ │ KRISTINA M. JOHNSON, Ph.D., in her individual and │ official capacities; BRUCE A. MCPHERON, Ph.D., in his │ individual capacity only; MELISSA L. GILLIAM, M.D., │ M.P.H., in her official capacity only, │ Defendants-Appellees. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus. No. 2:22-cv-00276—Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., District Judge.

Decided and Filed: December 5, 2023

Before: MOORE, McKEAGUE, and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.

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COUNSEL ON BRIEF: Tracy L. Turner, ROSENBERG & BALL CO., LPA, Granville, Ohio, for Appellant. Benjamin M. Flowers, Michael J. Hendershot, OFFICE OF THE OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees. No. 23-3338 Peterson v. Johnson, et al. Page 2

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OPINION _________________

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Bradley Peterson sued Kristina Johnson and Bruce McPheron1 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that Johnson and McPheron violated his procedural-due-process rights. Peterson alleges that he had a property interest in his status as an emeritus professor at the Ohio State University (“Ohio State”) and that Johnson and McPheron deprived him of that status without adequate process. The district court dismissed the complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), finding that Peterson’s emeritus status was not a constitutionally protected property interest. Peterson now appeals. For the reasons explained below, we AFFIRM the district court.

I. BACKGROUND

Bradley Peterson joined Ohio State in 1979 and, by 1984, he was promoted to Associate Professor and granted tenure status. R. 1 (Compl. ¶ 10) (Page ID #4). Following his retirement on June 30, 2015, Peterson was granted emeritus status. Id. ¶ 13 (Page ID #6). Peterson then began working as a Distinguished Visiting Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, developing a study that would be presented to NASA and the National Academy of Sciences, conducting research, and writing the second edition of an astrophysics textbook. Id. ¶¶ 14–15 (Page ID #6). In October 2018, Peterson returned to Ohio State full-time with his emeritus status, but he continued much of his work for these other entities. Id. ¶ 15 (Page ID #6–7).

In April 2020, three women filed a sexual-harassment complaint against Peterson. Id. ¶ 18 (Page ID #7). Ohio State investigated the complaint by conducting interviews of the women and any witnesses over the course of a few weeks. Id. ¶ 29 (Page ID #11–12). On April 27, 2020, after completing several interviews, Ohio State notified Peterson about the pending investigation. Id. Peterson denied the allegations in writing and was interviewed as part of the

1 The district court subsequently substituted McPheron with Melissa Gilliam, who took over as Executive Vice President and Provost while the case was