Disgruntled student sues over C-plus, demands higher grade and $1.3 million damages payout

EASTON, Pa.Pennsylvania graduate student Megan Thode wasn't happy about the C-plus she received for her internship, saying the mediocre grade kept her from getting her desired degree and becoming a licensed therapist.

Thode is suing her professor and Lehigh University in Bethlehem, demanding that her grade be changed. She's also seeking monetary damages.

A judge is hearing testimony on the case this week in Northampton County Court.

The Express-Times of Easton reports that her professor, Amanda Eckhart, stands by the grade. She says Thode earned zero out of 25 points in class participation.

Thode's attorney, Richard Orloski, argues Eckhardt targeted her as punishment because Thode is an outspoken advocate for gay marriage, a stance Eckhardt does not believe in.

Lehigh attorney Neil Hamburg says it would be unprecedented for the judge to order that her grade be changed.

Thode contends the C-plus cost her $1.3 million. She says that's the economic value of a master's degree in counseling psychology.

As CBS Philly reports, Thode isn't the first student to head to court after getting a bad grade.

However, the Supreme Court has looked at grading cases and has said that it will generally not second guess a school's decision unless it can be demonstrated that those at the school did not actually exercise professional judgment.

I was deeply moved by the story regarding a former Rutgers student of mine Louisa
Leal. She was in my public speaking class. She was so inspired by my teaching
that even though she is not Jewish she asked me to pray for her which I did.I
went out of my way to help her as I did with many other students who needed
extra help. I was there to help many athletes get through Rutgers, particularly
those who had injuries and learning problems including Ray Rice, Jeremy Britt
and most of the NFL players over the last twenty plus years. Last year I was
terminated from Rutgers after teaching there since 1990. The Home News has not
been willing to do my story. My crime was that I was not willing to give 20% A's
and 20% C's and D's to my students, creating and using my own textbook (not
unlike other professors) and being unwilling to accept the disrespect given to
me by the chairman of the department. THE HEAD OF THE UNDERGRADUATE DEPT. CONVENIENTLY RETIRED AND THE DEPT. CHAIRMAN IS ON SABBATICAL MAKING A FORTUNE AS A FULL PROFESSOR WHILE ADJUNCTS STARVE.
I always received the highest student ratings. Please ask Louisa about me and she
will verify this. I would love to speak with her if you could convey that . A current student at Rutgers told me today that certain professors are curving grades so that if you are one of the unlucky 20% YOU MIGHT GET A D EVEN THOUGH YOU REALLY DESERVED A HIGHER GRADE. If you do not believe this ask students at Rutgers. There is no way that I would ever do that to a student. That is why I NO LONGER TEACH THERE.
message.
Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg

[RetiredArmy_Nurse]

The big problem with these academic internships is that you are a student, not an employee, even though you are working harder than most paid employees. As a student you have no virtually no rights. I had clinical instructors who would single out good people to intimidate, bully, & harass to the point that they would fail or just drop out. These instructors had the power to fail you no matter what your grade on their own subjective measure (e.g. their own opinion). They could only do this one at a time, so as they went after one person the rest of us felt safe for the time that they concentrated on flunking them. Once that student was driven off we held our breath waiting to see who the next victim would be. I was lucky enough to survive, but it was only luck. My class had a 53% failure rate thanks to these hateful instructors. Had I gotten in the crosshairs it would have meant no Army career, no post military state career, no big officer retirement check, no VA disability check, no state retirement check. I lived thru this fearful experience many decades ago, but can fully relate to what this young woman is going through. Perhaps if enough wrongly failed students come back with law suits it might someday end.

[JPaulNugent]

Give her an F-off!

[voterx]

Internship,

Most of the posts here do not know what the term means in higher education.

I suggest you ask someone who did an internship, perhaps a neighbor's kid or google it.

I did an internship for a multi-media firm as part of my Programmer Analyst Degree.

I worked all summer for no pay, never missed a day or was late for 40 hours per week. My Boss gave me a "B" for 3 months free labor.

My Instructor gave me a "A" for the course after talking to my Internship Employer, my Boss. Seems during the conversation with my Boss, he told my Instructor that he needed a minute to take his medication for depression among other things. My Boss said I did excellent work and never missed a day all summer. Asked why he gave me a "B", he replied " no one deserves an "A" grade. He and his firm were dropped from future Internship participation.

Out of my class of 18 who had Internships, over half had stories of disrespect, heavy workloads, paychecks that were late or non-existent, harassment, etc. Very few would have worked for the firms that they Interned at.

My Instructor took a few minutes to call my Boss and got to the bottom of why I got a crappy grade since I was an "A" student for years at college.

I do not blame this student at all for suing.

More should do so.

[micmac666]

This story is indicative of the type of employee abuse that has made necessary the regulations we have. Unfortunately, the same rules don't always apply to interns and creeps will take advantage.

[obicera1]

Fine, maybe she is a whiner. On the other hand, what if the instructor did single her out for political reasons? What were other typical class participation grades? Was hers way out of bounds or typical? Those involved are human, and sometimes humans do foolish things, professors too.

[ugleyme]

1.3 million to be a counselor? Where did I go wrong? I quite mental health because my Supplemental Security Income clients were making the same as me. $1,300,000? Woof. I must live in the wrong universe.

[HM8432]

The spoiled princess is whining about getting a 'C'? She's clearly a member of the 'Participation trophy' generation who's been told her entire life that she's special; if she's disappointed now, wait until she graduates and has to work in the real world. This case screams tort reform...

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

BC_Ed says: If she did attend classes but did not contribute to discussions, she should at least receive the passing grade of 13..
---
A passing grade for no contribution whatsoever?
Are you nuts?

[RetiredArmy_Nurse]

I'm going to make the best guess that the instructor intimidated & bullied her. If that happened, and indications are it did, most students feel their only defense is to be quiet & invisible. If you are humiliated every time you say something in a classroom full of your peers, you will shut up in a hurry. I see a lot of posters blaming the student, but I'm sure they never had to complete an internship nor suffer a clinical instructor where you are at their mercy. When a mean person has complete power over you they will use it, likely to cause you great injury.

[Paroquet]

Participation points? There's very little objectivity and fairness in that. If I can pass your class slated for 60 days of lecture and/or lab, and have only attended four, you're either a poor teacher, your material isn't appropriately challenging, or I'm just -that- good.

You're teaching geology (for example). Your opinion of my being able to get along with others hardly matters. You are grading me on the material critical to my education in the subject, not how nice I am, or how well I play with others.

Participation points? Sheesh. I skipped the last three weeks in a number of courses and still set the curve. Was I liked? Nope. Did I care? Nope. I cared that I had absorbed the material critical to the concept of the course.

The time for grading someone on their playground capabilities at making friends ended in Grammar school.

[BC_Ed]

Why did this student receive a 0 for class participation? That extremely low grade made a difference to the final outcome. If the student never attended classes, the 0 seems fair. If she did attend classes but did not contribute to discussions, she should at least receive the passing grade of 13, which would probably increase her grade into a B range. At least a little participation in class discussions should improve that 13/25 grade, too. If the 0 was assigned because of someone's personal dislike of the student or a classroom incident that did not take into consideration daily attendance or classroom contribution, the lawsuit is appropriate and I wish the student good luck.

[Jonseen]

She didn't get a 0 for overall grade: she got a 0 out of 25 for participation. It was only one part of the grade apparently.