text: A respected Philadelphia law professor  who made national headlines after accidentally emailing her students a porn link has spoken out about how she's reclaiming her dignity since the public scandal. Lisa McElroy, 50, reportedly sent the explicit link to her Drexel University students under the subject line 'Great article on writing briefs' on March 31. McElroy said she was 'mortified' and 'in terrible shape' when she found out what she had done, she wrote in a column for the Washington Post. Respected Drexel University law professor Lisa McElroy, 50, who made national headlines last month after accidentally emailing her students a porn link, has spoken out about reclaiming her dignity since the scandal . The legal writing professor, who earned a doctorate from Harvard Law School, writes that she was sure she had lost her 'dignity forever' when news of the scandal first broke. 'Everyone was talking about me,' she said. 'Everyone was speculating about whether I watched porn, or used sex toys, or liked kinky sex. Some people were calling for my job and law license.' The professor said she would not divulge in her column how the mistake happened. 'If you're hoping to find out here how that happened, among the many possibilities that have been raised by gleeful commentators, I’m sorry to tell you you’re going to be disappointed.' But McElroy did explain her concern that, with a profession where she teaches 'students to project a dignified image' and 'possess integrity', people would no longer believe the teacher could follow her own lessons. Drexel  conducted an internal investigation after the incident and  found that McElroy, a tenured professor, had not violated the the university's sexual harassment and misconduct policy. The university said in a statement that federal law requires it investigate all reports of 'inappropriate behaviors of a sexual nature'. The professor defends Drexel's  decision to investigate the matter. She wrote that critics of the university were 'dismissing the dignity of the law' and 'giving no consideration to an atmosphere in which the law exists to protect people and an investigation may be necessary'. But McElroy said she wondered why no one thought to question the 'dignity of those who forwarded the unintended post'. 'No one asked why, if they found it so offensive, students opened the link, with its unmistakable Web address, and watched the video long enough to know what it contained,' she said. In fact, McElroy writes, there wasn't anything newsworthy about the mistake she calls 'pretty trivial' at all. 'My students are adults. The link was quickly removed. There was nothing illegal in the video...Yet, because it was porn and I'm a law professor, news organizations spread the story around the world.' McElroy said she was 'mortified' and 'in terrible shape' when she found out she sent her students an explicit link  under the subject line 'Great article on writing briefs' on March 31 . McElroy also questions both the dignity of the 'tabloid journalists', who called her cellphone number and waited outside her office to interview students, and the 'intended audience' they knew would want to read the story in the first place. Readers, she said, 'enjoyed the scandal (where is Olivia Pope when you need her?), the thrill of the sexual and the salacious, the speculation'. 'Gossip was natural.' The professor said the incident made her wonder what the definition of dignity - and who holds the power to decide it - really was. 'Is it the degraded person who lacks dignity? Or the person who seeks to degrade her?' she asks. 'If a person is portrayed as less than dignified, does that mean she is? Who has the power to decide?' But McElroy said that, almost a month later, she has found the power to decide at least what her own personal definition of dignity is - realizing that it's something she can get back. 'You can reimagine yourself, and your reputation, and your professional image,' she writes. 'You can come to realize that there are worse things than humiliation. There is cancer. There is isolation. And there is the willingness — even the desire — to bring others down to lift yourself up. 'You can go back.' Drexel conducted an internal investigation after the incident and found that McElroy,  a tenured professor, had not violated the the university's sexual harassment and misconduct policy .
target: Lisa McElroy, 50, who teaches legal writing at Drexel University, accidentally sent the explicit message on March 31 .
  McElroy said she was 'in terrible shape' when she first realized what she had done and saw her name make headlines .
  Yet the professor said she found the matter 'pretty trivial' and questioned the dignity of those who forwarded the 'unintended post'
  McElroy, who has tenure, was investigated by the university and has been cleared to continue teaching .