The case being played out in a Philadelphia federal courthouse pits Le Ke’s discrimination claims against a university’s legal duty and the rights of other students under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Ke, who was born in China, is suing for damages and reinstatement to Drexel University’s College of Medicine. He alleges that discrimination based on his race and Chinese ethnicity led to his dismissal in 2011, an allegation that the university denies.
Ke is representing himself in the case.
“He contends that he can only prove his case by obtaining identifying information about students who he claims were treated differently from him and their medical school files,” U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky said.
In one of the few higher education discrimination cases to raise the FERPA issue, a judge ordered Penn State University in 1990 to release only in “statistical, summary form” information about students who had transferred into its medical school. That suit was filed by a transfer student who asserted that PSU had improperly dismissed her.
According to court documents, Ke enrolled at Drexel in 2008. He was dismissed after failing all his major courses during his second year but reinstated on condition that he repeat the year and earn grades of at least “satisfactory” in all courses.
