Posted on 02/13/2013 5:38:11 AM PST by massmike
Megan Thode isn't the first Lehigh University student who was unhappy with the grade she received in a course. But she may be the first to sue to get it changed.
The C+ that Thode was given scuttled her dream of becoming a licensed professional counselor and was part of an effort to force her out of the graduate degree program she was pursuing, said her lawyer, Richard J. Orloski, whose lawsuit seeks $1.3 million in damages.
Orloski said his client is the victim of breach of contract and sexual discrimination, and a civil trial began Monday before Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano over the claims.
Thode, 27, of Nazareth, was enrolled in the College of Education in her second and final year of a master's in counseling and human services. She needed a B to take the next course of her field work requirement.
Orloski said she would have received that grade but for the zero in classroom participation that she was awarded by her teacher, Amanda Carr. Orloski charged that Carr and Nicholas Ladany — the then-director of the degree program — conspired to hold Thode back because they were unhappy that she'd complained after she and three other students were forced to find a supplemental internship partway through the semester.
Orloski also alleged that Carr was biased against Thode because Thode advocated for gay and lesbian rights — a claim Lehigh's attorneys dismissed as baseless since Carr has a close family member who is a lesbian, and has counseled gay and lesbian people.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcall.com ...
...and she attends school FOR FREE!!!!!!!!
On those merits alone she should fail.
If you have no job prospects after college, sue someone for something!
“Megan Thode, who attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for free as her dad Steven is a professor at the private facility,...”
I hope she not only loses, but pays court costs.
What a bunch of Nonsense.
She should attend the college I teach at in California. The faculty sponsor a Gay-Straight Alliance “Kiss-in” every year.
If this works, I’m sitting on a goldmine!
A lot of people in college these days have no business there, affirmative action and the like have put them in over their heads. Social promotion is the answer I guess. /sarc
LOL. Pass the popcorn on this one. A liberal “victim” clashes with the liberal power structure. The claim is amusing, but I could easily see some prima donna professor awarding a zero class participation out of spite. And I love the “some of my best friends are gay” defense to the laughable claim that the zero was awarded because the student “advocated gay rights.” This is the bizzaro world modern PC Liberalism has brought us too.
“Hamburg and Michael Sacks, another Lehigh lawyer, said that while Thode may have looked like a good student on paper, she was not ready to move on. They said Thode showed unprofessional behavior that included swearing in class and, on one occasion, having an outburst in which she began crying.”
New grade here: LOSER
Lehigh is one of the most expensive schools around.
Shouldn’t she have to pay tax on the cost (as paid by other students) of her free “education”, just like lottery winners have to pay tax on their free money?
Liberal v. Liberals
Sit back and enjoy the carnage!
Can anything good come from Nazareth?
“Her father is a (finance) professor...” — who failed her miserably if he did not teach her how to handle her emotions, or counsel her on her career choice if she was unsuitable for this field.
Not at all surprised. The most frequent refrain heard from snotty teenagers in well-to-do parts of town is a sneering “My dad’s a lawyer an he’ll SUE your a*s!”
And most of the time, Dad is stupid enough to do it.
(I personally know of a case where the daughter of a lawyer working a part-time retail job was disciplined for refusing to clean the rest room, and her dad sued the company)
Exactomundo!
Most posters on this thread seem to blame the student, but I'm not so sure. The girl got a ZERO, for class participation. why a zero? Did she never come to class? Did she never say anything? If her class participation had been sadly lacking, would she perhaps have earned a 20%? Or 23%? But, no, she got a ZERO. I'm highly suspicious that there was some fishy going on.
BTW, you know the difference between a tenured professor and a terrorist, don't you? You can negotiate with the terrorist.
I would like to see the syllabus for the course. Was there an explicit declaration that class participation would be measured and counted toward the final grade? What was the criteria for participation? Class attendance? Asking and answering questions? Debating with the professor and other students--in a polite, respectful manner, of course?
I agree that ZERO seems extreme--to me, such a grade would indicate that the student NEVER came to class, but whether or not that grade can or will change, will likely be dependent upon how well classroom participation was defined in the syllabus.
Although it's been 20+ years since I last sat in a college classroom, I understand that many profs take it as a personal affront when students don't come to class. It's almost as bad when they do come, but sit there like bumps on a log, afraid to engage in any sort of intellectual intercourse with the class.
Heh heh.
Yes, poor Megan of Nazareth, brought before LeHigh Priests.
Like Moses, trying to part the red “C.”
I say, render unto C-students that which belongs to C-students.
A sub-honor student is not without profit, but in her own country.
she probably got some points for showing up, and engaging in the required psychobabble, but had them taken away for attitude and swearing in class.
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