“Maybe I’m just an old guy that graduated college in 1966, but what authority or leverage does a university have over a student that is paying tuition? I would just tell these folks to get screwed and go to my next class. Maybe things have changed over the years but this is absolutely mind boggling!”
The power of the university is absolute. Despite the fact that students are consumers, who pay for services rendered, there is no consumer protection whatsoever at a university.
Moreover, the university holds the student’s future economic potential in their hands. If they decide to withhold your diploma for some arbitrary administrative reason, you are screwed.
Except for the right to protest George Bush, students essentially lose all rights when they attend college.