DECISION AND ORDER INTRODUCTION Plaintiff Seth Oyer (“Plaintiff”) claims that defendant New York State, State University of New York, State University College at Buffalo (“Defendant”) discriminated against him on the basis of disability and retaliated against him in violation of that Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. §794 et seq. (Dkt. 7). Pending before the Court is Defendant’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. (Dkt. 8). For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants Defendant’s motion. FACTUAL BACKGROUND The following facts are taken from the Amended Complaint (Dkt. 7), which is the operative pleading. As is required at this stage of the proceedings, the Court treats Plaintiff’s allegations as true. Plaintiff is the holder of a Ph.D. in Crisis Public Relationships from the University of Florida, Gainesville, and was hired by Defendant in August of 2012 as an Assistant Professor in the Communication Department. (Id. at
13-15). Throughout his employment with Defendant, Plaintiff received “excellent performance reviews” and “good evaluations from his students,” while also obtaining seven grants for work pursued in his discipline. (Id. at 16). However, “[b]eginning in 2015 when there was a new chair in the [Communication] Department, [Plaintiff] was subject to insults and demeaning comments by his fellow faculty.” (Id. at 18). Dr. Ronald Smith (“Smith”), a former chairman of Defendant’s Communication Department, was “[c]hief among faculty engaging in this behavior[.]” (Id. at 19). Smith would “denigrate [Plaintiff's] work and [Plaintiff] personally” and was “supported by all but a few of [Plaintiff's] fellow faculty” in this behavior. (Id.). Plaintiff was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”) in 2015. (Id. at 20). Plaintiff states his “therapist believes this condition was brought on by [Plaintiff's] experiences at [Defendant].” (Id.). Plaintiff reported his PTSD to Defendant. (Id. at 21). Plaintiff’s PTSD caused him to “miss classes on occasion,” though his “work and teaching were always made up” and he “always notified the school when he would be absent.” (Id. at 22). Following his PTSD diagnosis, Plaintiff “continued to teach and pursue research and fully expected to be granted tenure.” (Id. at 23). However, in 2017, Plaintiff “found out that there was information that he was not going to be recommended for tenure.” (Id. at 24). In particular, Smith was “contacting other faculty in the [Communication Department] and telling them that he was getting [Plaintiff] fired.” (Id.). One professor reported these statements by Smith to Defendant’s Dean of Arts and Humanities, but no action was taken. (Id. at 24). On January 26, 2018, “the ad hoc committee met and unanimously voted to deny [Plaintiff's] tenure and promotion.” (Id. at
