A former graduate student has lost a mental-illness-based disability and retaliation suit against Fordham University.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman dismissed the case filed by Julie Pierce, who was denied re-admission to Fordham’s Masters in Social Work Program after two medical leaves of absence.
Pierce enrolled in the program in 2011. The following year she took a one-semester medical leave.
When she returned, she applied for additional loans to cover medical costs, but, when the university asked for access to her medical records, she responded that doing so would violate her Americans with Disabilities Act rights, according to the suit.
The next year, she underwent a psychiatric hospitalization and then took a second medical leave, it said,
The suit claimed that Fordham failed to accept her documentation when she wanted to return.
However, Furman said she “opted not to comply” with the university’s re-entry process for students wishing to return after a mental health leave of absence. The decision quoted an email, in which she told a dean, “I will not be supplying Fordham with the forms.”
