Posted on 02/13/2013 9:33:13 PM PST by rawhide
Graduate student Megan Thode wasn't happy about the C-plus she received for one class,saying the mediocre grade kept her from getting her desired degree and becoming a licensed therapist — and, as a result,cost her $1.3 million in lost earnings.
Now Thode is suing her professor and Lehigh University in Bethlehem,claiming monetary damages and seeking a grade change.
A judge is hearing testimony in the case this week in Northampton County Court. Lehigh and the professor contend her lawsuit is without merit. Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano declined to dismiss the suit Wednesday, ruling that there was enough evidence for the suit to proceed.
Thode took the class in the fall of 2009. Her instructor,Amanda Eckhardt, testified this week that she stood by the grade,saying Thode failed to behave professionally and thus earned zero out of 25 points in class participation, bumping her down a full letter grade.
"I...believed she received the grade she earned," Eckhardt said.
The C-plus prevented Thode, an otherwise A student, from going on to the next class and advancing in her professional therapist studies.
Her attorney, Richard Orloski, argued that Eckhardt targeted Thode because she is an outspoken advocate for gay marriage.
Eckhardt testified that while she believes marriage is between a man and a woman, she would never allow her personal views to influence her treatment of students. She said Thode had outbursts in class, did not participate appropriately, was emotionally unstable and failed to heed a warning letter.
Stephen Thode, the plaintiff's father and a longtime finance professor at Lehigh, testified on his daughter's behalf and said her participation score was highly irregular.
"I have never heard of a case, not just at Lehigh, where a student achieved a zero in class participation where they attended and participated in every class," he said
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
If it’s a case of the teacher with an attitude problem, I hope she wins. If not...oh well.
Because as we all know, the academic environment is VERY intolerant of liberal beliefs. [eyeroll]
She paid nothing for this class, it cost her nothing
She is a lesbian leftist with a victim mentality
Judge: "If you wanted a better grade, you should have studied harder. Case dismissed."
Finally. The very first woman to offer a serious challenge Sandra Fluke as Reigning Consummate Asshole Democrat Human Douchebag.
Hmmm....
Leave it daddy to get his pampered daughter a way out.
Then she needs to pay court costs, do time for a frivilous filing, apologize and slink back under the rock that birthed her.
I have seen several teachers try screwing students based on their politics or personality conflicts which is why I gave her the benefit of the doubt. But apparently should not have.
“She said Thode had outbursts in class, did not participate appropriately, was emotionally unstable and failed to heed a warning letter.”
Should be easy enough to verify all of this.
I'm kind of having trouble rooting for either one here....
I don't get you. Seems like you have to stand with the professor's right to conscientiously assign a grade.
I figure they both are telling the truth. Hey I know liberal professors screwed me in college just because they didn’t like me even reviewing a book that didn’t agree with their revisionist version of history. I mean a low grade because I dared review a book that said reconstruction of the South after the Civil War was a mistake.
So it does happen. But I didn’t sue them. My recollection is a lot of professors and a lot of students are jerks.
Is that Thode or Eckhardt?
I work in the mental health field and would seriously question the $1.3M income loss, particularly if she was going to be working at the Master’s level, and particularly considering managed care rates and the move to Obamacare. Story appears a scant spare on details.
sorry - should be sparse on details.
The story as written is murky, but how do you know Thode is a lesbian vs. an advocate for gay rights? Sympathy for gay rights is the very IN thing today. One doesn’t have to BE gay to be an advocate. All one has to be is 30ish or under.
And now the little darling will be completely unhireable, once any potential employer googles her name and finds out that she sues at the drop of a hat.
I can't believe this actually made it to court. Is she suing the professor or the university? If it's the professor, she ain't gonna get jack squat.
And one C+ won't ruin the GPA of a "straight A student".
Sounds like ideal therapist material.
Over a 40 year career, it is an estimated loss of about $32,500/yr, which is not unreasonable. But really, she just needs to take the course over again and make more of an effort. It isn’t like she’s paying for it, which is part of the problem.
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