New court rulings in Texas and Colorado have reinforced the principle that judges should be reluctant to meddle with academic decisions by colleges and universities.
In one case, a judge held that Texas Southern University did not violate the federal due process rights of two first-year law students who flunked out for failing to maintain the required 2.0 minimum GPA.
“Federal courts disfavor claims that require judges to second-guess judgments about the academic quality of a student’s work,” the ruling said.
And, in the other case, a judge said a Metropolitan State University dean’s opposition to the promotion of a female professor may have been based on his own gender bias but found insufficient evidence that sex bias also motivated the Faculty Senate, provost, vice president of academic affairs and president to reject the promotion.
“The decisions made in academia are subject to some deference because they are exercises in professional judgment,” the decision said.
The TSU case was filed by Jonathan Chan and Karla Ford, who received D and D- grades in a contract law course. On their final exam, each answered only one of eight questions correctly.
As a result, both had GPAs below the minimum, so the Thurgood Marshall School of Law dismissed them at the end of the spring 2011 semester. The Academic Standards Committee held brief review hearings at the two students’ request but denied their petitions for grade changes.
