The law school where Barack Obama once taught is coming to his defense after Hillary Clinton's campaign accused him of embellishing his record at the university and falsely claiming he was a law professor.

The University of Chicago Law School posted a brief explanation on its Web site, saying Obama served as a "professor" there, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a "senior lecturer" from 1996 to 2004, "during which time he taught three courses per year."

Though the Clinton campaign argued that lecturers aren't the same as professors since they don't have tenure, the law school differed.

"Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track," the university statement said.

The school piped up after Clinton's campaign circulated a statement Tuesday detailing what it alleged was a pattern of Obama embellishments and mis-statements. The campaign memo came as Clinton was facing sharp criticism that she embellished when she said she landed under sniper fire during a goodwill trip to Bosnia in 1996.

"Once again, the Obama campaign is getting caught saying one thing while doing another," the Clinton memo said, citing 10 examples of alleged mis-statements. The first bullet point, citing an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, said: "Sen. Obama consistently and falsely claims that he was a law professor."

The university statement said Obama was not full-time but was offered that status several times over 12 years, and he declined.