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Suing your school?


Amadeus89

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the better strategy is to get the university to distance themselves from the individual, by procuring hard paper evidence, otherwise they're just attracting more controversy... and then going after them personally... lol, you eliminate the bodies with sizable budgets, and then have some fun... yeah, and now i have a rediculously expensive legal team whored out to me for publicity, but i just want more documents... i prefer the personal interaction to be a very humanistic experience, and ive had six figure teams on me before, but i want the visceral understanding of what someone put another through, but if im busy, i'd just rather take the lead... yeah, let's make it 11-0... but this one is the first one i've felt personally like, yeah, there are human consequences to actions, and in addition, i'm as intimidating as any set of free layers at this point, i never play to win a tight game, i play to absolutely dismantle the other side.

 

On one sense it is good that there is another potential check to being unfairly evaluated but I suspect this won't really go anywhere. There has to be some actual reason they deserve a higher grade or the case has no merit.
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Some important things to note.

 

Here’s the backstory: Ms. Thode was in her last year of a master’s degree in counselling and human services in 2009 when she received the offending C+. Turns out she needed to earn a B in a fieldwork class in order to meet the requirements to complete her degree, but her grade sunk after her professor, Amanda Carr, gave her a zero score for classroom participation.

 

The university’s lawyers said that while Ms. Thode appeared to be a good student on paper, she didn’t deserve the passing grade, alleging she “showed unprofessional behavior that included swearing in class and, on one occasion, having an outburst in which she began crying,” the Morning Call story read.

 

The first thing I thought when I saw the article was "Do ho, someone's mad because they messed up an exam." But that's not the case. Her coursework grades were apparently good. She's suing for the participation grade, and that's where things get tricky, because unless for some reason they recorded the lectures there's no record of how she actually acted.

 

And note that the university hasn't claimed that Ms. Thode didn't contribute to/attend class, just that she swore and had an outburst and was unprofessional.

 

So it becomes a question of a) is the prof telling the truth about her behavior? (and how do you prove that?) and B) is it acceptable for a professor to fail a student for those reasons?

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Some important things to note.

 

The first thing I thought when I saw the article was "Do ho, someone's mad because they messed up an exam." But that's not the case. Her coursework grades were apparently good. She's suing for the participation grade, and that's where things get tricky, because unless for some reason they recorded the lectures there's no record of how she actually acted.

 

And note that the university hasn't claimed that Ms. Thode didn't contribute to/attend class, just that she swore and had an outburst and was unprofessional.

 

So it becomes a question of a) is the prof telling the truth about her behavior? (and how do you prove that?) and B) is it acceptable for a professor to fail a student for those reasons?

 

well that certainly makes things more interesting :)

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A lawyer who was not busy took the case on a contingency basis you may be sure. :P

 

The grading is understandably subjective. Moreover, there is no guarantee whatsoever that she would have been successful or hired had she gotten the B. This is a case based upon what she might have been but who really knows, not a case of a proven professional who is going for damages.

 

Her case is worthless and at the starting gate, she would need to prove bias on the part of the prof. Even then, she has an uphill battle. Should the lawyer win, he will make his name, like the lawyer who took on that losing case where the young mother killed her daughter.....but he won the case! I don't think it will happen here.

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depending on the nature of the subject matter that caused her emotional outburst and the ammount of disclosure she gave about perhaps previous trauma, etc. about the experience... that could go very bad very fast for the prof, especially if it was a borderline patient who felt say disconnected from everyone, and re-victimized... secondary ptsd doesn't require intent as a clause, just sufficient prior knowledge

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A lawyer who was not busy took the case on a contingency basis you may be sure. :P

 

The grading is understandably subjective. Moreover, there is no guarantee whatsoever that she would have been successful or hired had she gotten the B. This is a case based upon what she might have been but who really knows, not a case of a proven professional who is going for damages.

 

Her case is worthless and at the starting gate, she would need to prove bias on the part of the prof. Even then, she has an uphill battle. Should the lawyer win, he will make his name, like the lawyer who took on that losing case where the young mother killed her daughter.....but he won the case! I don't think it will happen here.

 

Subjective yes, but that doesn't mean arbitrary. The onus will be on the professor to explain the grade. He has to show the grading was fair, consistent and "normal". It might be quite possible the professor actually broke rules in assigning the grade. We all know professors sometimes just make up their own policies and are very stubborn about changing them. Often those policies are wrong.

 

Now I am actually interested in this case :)

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yeah, it's actually disgusting... especially when other faculty are appalled by an individuals behavior. this does happen, believe me, and in some cases, such as when there's a paper trail, it is flagrantly obvious... i would go foip on the teachers subjective notes of assessment on her classroom participation, if they have her name on them and are property of a pub funded institution she's entitled to a copy... bang...

 

Subjective yes, but that doesn't mean arbitrary. The onus will be on the professor to explain the grade. He has to show the grading was fair, consistent and "normal". It might be quite possible the professor actually broke rules in assigning the grade. We all know professors sometimes just make up their own policies and are very stubborn about changing them. Often those policies are wrong.

 

Now I am actually interested in this case :)

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I once had a prof that refused to show me my final exam - something that is flat out against my university's policies. I asked and he said no. I filled out a formal paperwork request and he said no. Finally I actually had to drag him to a complaint board and had them compel him to do so.

 

He had a pretty good reason - he wanted to make sure no one could copy or even memorize the questions and use later and he knew I did well on the test so thought I didn't need to. Didn't matter - I had a right to view my test and thus did so as I did in all my courses. I remember the look he had when he was rule against - he was not happy but more I think it was a look of surprise. It is amazing how often professors and students never actually read the school's polices that could be affecting them.

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yeah, i don't harp on reading law all the time to show off, it actually plays a huge role in people's day to day lives that they (obv you do) realize.

 

I once had a prof that refused to show me my final exam - something that is flat out against my university's policies. I asked and he said no. I filled out a formal paperwork request and he said no. Finally I actually had to drag him to a complaint board and had them compel him to do so.

 

He had a pretty good reason - he wanted to make sure no one could copy or even memorize the questions and use later and he knew I did well on the test so thought I didn't need to. Didn't matter - I had a right to view my test and thus did so as I did in all my courses. I remember the look he had when he was rule against - he was not happy but more I think it was a look of surprise. It is amazing how often professors and students never actually read the school's polices that could affecting them.

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Subjective yes, but that doesn't mean arbitrary. The onus will be on the professor to explain the grade. He has to show the grading was fair, consistent and "normal". It might be quite possible the professor actually broke rules in assigning the grade. We all know professors sometimes just make up their own policies and are very stubborn about changing them. Often those policies are wrong.

 

Now I am actually interested in this case :)

 

Absolutely, subjective does not mean arbitrary. But sometimes, profs will make arbitrary decisions against the rules that adversely affect students. Two years ago, I was helping a student who the prof had failed, tghereby making him ineligible for a program in which he sought entry. Although technically the student had actually failed the final, his final graderades should have been a pass based upon grades attained in assignments and tests.

 

The Ombudsperson was of no help, so I had him write a detailed letter to the Chairman of the Department, concluding on the basis that the prof was acting wrongly, illegally and against his own rules that had been established just because he felt the student should fail. This was education "by ambush"! The Chairman gave the student a pass and he was able enter the program he desired.

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