(Major WHINER) Student takes his C to federal court

[MADem]

Marquis, a 51-year-old paralegal seeking bachelor's degrees in legal studies and sociology, filed a 15-count lawsuit in US District Court in Springfield in January after a teaching assistant graded a political philosophy class on a curve and turned Marquis's A-minus into a C. Marquis contends that the university violated his civil rights and contractual rights and intentionally inflicted "emotional distress."

Last week, after a brief hearing with Marquis and a university lawyer, District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor dismissed the suit. But Marquis said this week he is considering appealing to the US Court of Appeals..."This is not something I relish," he said from the W.E.B. Du Bois Library on campus. "This is not an issue of me walking into court and saying, 'I don't like the way this professor grades this paper,' which is purely their academic prerogative. This is an issue where the empirical data was quite clear and convincing to any reasonable mind that my performance was well within a higher range."

Phillip Bricker, chairman of the philosophy department and one of eight defendants in the suit, said it had already caused enough damage. "I think suing over a grade is somewhat absurd," he said. "It ended up just wasting a lot of people's time and money."

In an era when the courts are asked to decide who owns a record-setting home run ball and who is to blame when a cup of hot coffee from a fast-food restaurant scalds a person, it seems perhaps only modestly surprising that a grade dispute leads to litigation....Peter Michelson, a lawyer for the university, urged Judge Ponsor to dismiss it, saying Marquis had failed to present a single legitimate legal claim.

He also focused on public policy, asking, "Does the court really want to put itself in the business of reviewing, under some constitutional or federal statutory doctrine, the propriety of the grades which a student has received?"

Ponsor gave his answer last Wednesday from the bench: No.



More at: http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/10/04/student_takes_his_c_to_federal_court/

[Richard Steele]

1. If he's protesting the grade, change it to "incomplete".

And if he feels the University is "intentionally inflicting emotional distress"
upon him, then obviously he needs to LEAVE with his "incomplete" and seek
his education at a less hostile Institute of Higher Learning.

Long story short: Fuck him and the horse he rode in on. And his little dog, too.

[chelsea0011]

2. and I'm sure they have never had their grades increased via

the bell curve.:puke: :puke: I hope the judge throws it out and hits them with some serious court fees for this waste of time.

[droidamus2]

3. He went too far, but

Though going to court seems to be going a little too far I think the student has a point. The assistant seemed to create a very subjective if not totally arbitrary grading system. In my college experience a 92.5 would have definitely put you in the A- area. If that level puts you at a C on a curve that means the vast majority of the class scored in the 90+ range. The fact that apparently the class was too easy isn't the students fault. There needs to be some clarification 1) Were the students told the class would be graded on an overall curve when the course started 2) Were the students told that the final of the 3 tests would have more weight than the first 2 3) Were the students told that if the assitant decided your objective grade didn't match his/her subjective evaluation of your work that the assitant had the right to assign an arbitrary grade. I get the feeling that there is more to this than just the grade as in maybe a personal problem between the student and assitant. One experience I had in collage was in a class where we had to turn in a short paper each week each worth 10 points. For the first part of the class the teacher graded these papers and I and a friend of mine were getting consistent 9-10 on our papers. When the assitant took over the grading all of a sudden our papers were in the 5-6 range. On complaining to the instructor (we knew the professor from previous classes) he decided that he would grade our papers from then on and our scores went back to the 9-10 range. I guess in the end what I am saying to those that may not have college experience or have experience but never ran into this problem is that some of these graduate assitants can be a real pain in the ass!

[ixion]

4. I believe your logic is sound

If that much of the class scored in the 90's, the test was too easy and the instructor is covering for this by using a curve. That said, if the test were written at the appropriate level, the student probably would have gotten a C minus. ;-)

[Silver Gaia]

6. Hey, man, as a graduate assistant who's currently grading a

huge pile of papers (for NO PAY--credit only--I might add), some of us actually care, and try hard to be fair. :)

ETA: I think the guy filing suit over this is ridiculous. This isn't a matter for the courts.

[droidamus2]

7. Not all inclusive

My comment wasn't meant to indict all graduate assistants but was to point out that some assistants seem to think it is there job to be 'tough' on undergraduate students. I'm sure you do your best to be fair as I would hope all conscientious assistants would.

[MADem]

8. Are you saying that the assistant fucked the entire class to get at this one guy?

I think the prof told the assistant how to grade, and the assistant did it. This guy wasn't the only one graded on that curve...they all were.

[ret5hd]

5. "In an era when courts are asked to decide"...

what? what? why throw these old canards into this story?

"In an era when courts are asked to decide" the proper disposition of a piece of valuable property whose ownership is in dispute and proper compensation of consumers injured by products the company knew was dangerous...

Is access to the courts only to be allowable when corporations (RIAA?) wish to sue us?