Posts Tagged ‘colleges and universities’

August 17 roundup

“Jobless grad sues college for 70G tuition”

Monroe College grad Trina Thompson is suing for a refund of her $70,000 tuition “because she hasn’t found gainful employment since earning her bachelor’s degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24.” [New York Post; NBC New York]

P.S. Joanne Jacobs: “I have a feeling Monroe doesn’t offer a money-back guarantee.” Jane Genova: lawsuit of this sort “should have been filed years ago”. More: Daniel Indiviglio, The Atlantic; The Onion.

Title IX math/science quotas, cont’d

According to Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the Obama administration may (or may not, it’s hard to tell for sure) be backing off its ambitious plan to arm-twist universities into goals of male/female proportionality in math, science, engineering and technology courses [Real Clear Politics]. We’ve covered the controversy here, here, and here.

FERPA and university secrecy

The Columbus Dispatch (national, local angles; via WSJ Law Blog) claims universities are using the federal student-privacy law, FERPA, to evade disclosure of information about league violations and other embarrassments in college sports programs. Others say given the law’s incentives it’s natural for administrators to err on the side of not sharing information of possible benefit to the public, as notoriously happened in the case of student/mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho.

Ensuring Pollan-ization

A controversy had erupted at Washington State University over whether it was really a good idea to require all freshmen to read and discuss Michael Pollan’s impassioned attack on the American food industry, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”. (The word “indoctrination” might even have come up.) Then famed Seattle-based injury attorney Bill Marler, whose practice focuses on suing over food poisoning and who has extensive ties to the university, offered to foot the bill himself for the program’s cost. Which, as the New York Times reports, seems to have made everything okay.

I wonder what the various personages decrying the “commercialization of the university” will have to say about all this. (Fixed name of university, originally mistakenly given as U-W, thanks Jason Barney in comments. And see response from attorney Bill Marler in comments).

“Expelled Student’s ADA Claim Against Law School Can Proceed”

“A Massachusetts federal judge recently ruled that Americans with Disabilities Act and related claims against New England Law | Boston can move forward in a lawsuit against the school for expelling a student with learning disabilities who failed two courses. … According to court papers, the plaintiff, Seva Brodsky, was expelled after failing two courses in the spring of 2005, and later learned from medical testing that his ‘memory and organizational deficits’ likely stemmed from an accident in the early 1980s.” He was denied readmission even though, he alleged, he presented medical evidence of his disability and had completed satisfactory work in a law program in Israel. [Sheri Qualters, NLJ]

Judge tosses lawsuit over lack of men’s studies program

Anti-feminist litigant Roy Den Hollander had claimed that Columbia University violated the law by offering courses in the study of one gender but not the other. A judge disagreed. [Corey Kilgannon, NY Times City Room via Elefant] Hollander has made earlier appearances at this site through his lawsuits against “Ladies’ Night” discounts at drinking establishments.

April 18 roundup