University challenge

Not content with letting off steam down the student union, increasingly disgruntled scholars are taking their universities to court. Condor Properties look at some of the more bizarre law suits.

Students might seem like an unlikely group to file law suits – after all, they have little money and are fairly adverse to getting out of bed – but aggrieved pupils across the world have taken to suing their universities. Here are some of the more curious cases…

Grade A farce

A Montreal student was so peeved about the B mark he received in political science that he has taken his university to court. William Groombridge claims Concordia University downgraded his mark from an A to a B to meet a “grade quota.”

The student claims his professor agreed it was grade A material, but downgraded it because of a departmental policy that requires no more than 25 per cent of students can get the top grade.

As a result, the student has filed in a small claims court to recover the $342 fee for his class. Concordia University declined to comment and the case continues.

Degree of responsibility

It might seem cheeky for a student to litigate against a university because they performed badly in their degree, but that’s exactly what Andrew Croskery tried to do in 2010.

The student at Queen’s University Belfast brought a judicial review to overturn his Desmond (as in Desmond Tutu, university rhyming slang for a 2:2), claiming that if he had received better supervision he would have done better. The High Court of Justice rejected his appeal and the grade stood.

Getting shirty

An Ohio student is suing his high school, claiming they banned him from wearing a t-shirt that displayed an anti-homosexuality message.

It is claimed the garment, which depicted the Christian fish symbol and the phrase "Jesus is not a homophobe," even prompted calls for the student’s suspension.

The shirt’s owner, one Maverick Couch, said he wore it on the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) Day of Silence to help encourage respect for gay students at school.

Waynesville High School has permitted him to wear the shirt on the annual Day of Silence while the case continues.

Too clever by half

Proving it’s not just students taking action against universities is the curious case of Marcel Pohl, an economics graduate from Germany. This brainiac completed his degree so quickly that he was sued by his university for loss of income.

The turbo student rattled through his course at Essen’s School of Economics in a quarter of the time it takes most students, prompting him to cancel his tuition fees for the subsequent semesters.

The boffin, who somehow managed to complete an apprenticeship at the same time, lost his case last year and was told by the German courts he had to pay his tuition fees in full. Like a lighthouse in the desert, it was a bright idea but completely pointless.