Navigating your first year of college is hard enough without feeling like your personal life is turning into public information.

So when one college freshman broke down in a professor’s office and later found out that professor told her older brother, she felt her privacy had been completely violated.

But when the student moved forward with an official complaint, what should have been a personal decision turned into campus-wide backlash.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for reporting my college professor after she gave my brother information about how I’m coping in college?

I (20F) am a first-year college student, and I have been struggling with college lately.

I feel burnt out, and I’ve struggled with my mental health as a result.

I have an older brother (41M). Yes, there’s a significant age gap between us.

As it turns out, her brother knows one of her professors quite well.

I recently found out my brother knows one of my professors, as they worked together and they remain good friends.

A few weeks ago, I had a really bad day at college, and it led me to breaking down before the end of the day.

This resulted in me being referred to the mental health team.

She thought her secret was safe with this professor, but her brother soon proved otherwise.

My brother called me and told me he knew about my breakdown in college and wanted to make sure I was alright.

I know he comes from a caring side, but I was really ticked off.

I feel my privacy was violated.

She knew her professor must have been to blame for this breach.

This breakdown happened in my professor’s office, who’s a good friend of my brother’s. Only she witnessed it.

I don’t know if I need to say this or not, but my parents are listed as my next of kin and not my brother.

So she asks her parents about it and they confirm it was her brother who told them.

I would have understood if she went to my parents about this. I contacted my parents to see if college contacted them.

They said no, but they heard about my breakdown as my brother called them and told them.

This infraction completely shattered any trust she had in this professor.

This professor is a professor I looked up to and admired.

I could go to her about anything, I could talk to her about anything, and I always felt safe and respected around her.

All of that is now gone. I trusted her, and I felt she has violated my trust and privacy.

I found out my brother knew because they met up outside of her work hours and she spoke about me to my brother.

So she decided to file a formal complaint.

This has led me to filing a complaint against the professor, and I only recently submitted the complaint.

They just started the formal process for dealing with the complaints. The professor is a well-liked professor.

Now she feels others are starting to turn against her.

She’s good at her job, and I won’t deny that, but it’s led to students ganging up on me, calling me all sorts of names and berating me for doing it.

Even some professors seem to be treating me differently.

AITA regarding making a complaint?

If people want something to be mad about, it should be the oversharing, not the reporting.

Commenters share their insights.

Even if the professor was genuinely concerned, she still broke the rules.

Maybe this professor isn’t the only one with a privacy problem.

If it were this commenter, they wouldn’t have gone through with such a report.

At the end of the day, actions have consequences — even for professors.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.