You deftly met your clashing ethical obligations to your
student and the Grouchy Professor (my least favorite Disney
movie, by the way). By speaking to the former, you protected her
from avoidable professional harm. By keeping mum about the
letter's contents, you respected the latter's
confidentiality.
Your student simply assumed the letter to be derogatory. Even
a well-meant reference letter can be ineffectual, a good reason
to eschew it in the future. It could be too brief to be helpful
or lacking in specifics or clumsily written or covered with soup
stains. The Grouchy Professor's own reputation could make his
endorsement counterproductive. Having made that assumption, the
student imprudently confronted the professor, stirring up this
hornet's nest and placing you in jeopardy. She should have known
better.
UPDATE: The student's approaching her reference provider
induced other people to make more substantive complaints about
the professor. He subsequently decided to retire.
Randy Cohen
Randy Cohen writes "The Ethicist" a weekly column for the New York Times Magazine, syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate in newspapers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
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