September 18, 2003

Disabled student and UNC

As a UNC alum, I was very interested in the tale of the "senioritis" victim who sued after the University rescinded his admission (Aug. 21). It appears that the student brought in a disabled-rights claim way after the fact. Was it his lawyer's idea?

Another interesting footnote is the question of whether this guy got his stellar 1600 and AP scores on untimed tests -- the standard "relief" given to ADD students. Since these standardized tests are substantially speed-based, the untimed test question really makes for a major problem; apparently the percentage of supposedly disabled students getting untimed tests at law school (and traditional law school exams are incredibly speed based) is so high as to skew significantly overall grading curves. A good friend of mine who went to Stanford Law tells me of serious wrangling between students and the Career Development Office over whether they could include an advisory blurb saying "non-disability timed tests" or something similar on their resumes.

Jim Copland, Manhattan Institute Center for Legal Policy, New York, NY

Posted by Walter Olson at September 18, 2003 10:54 AM
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