Making The Grade: Court Review Of University Decision-Making

INTRODUCTION

Universities have a variety of internal procedures that permit students to challenge a number of academic decisions. For example, there are often procedures allowing students to appeal grades or to challenge other decisions such as being expelled.1

However, these decisions are not necessarily final. Students who exhaust the appeal procedures established by a university may generally apply to a superior court for judicial review. This article will summarize how courts assess these types of academic decisions and outline what courts expect from universities in order to uphold their decisions. In other words, this legal cheat sheet is intended to help universities make the grade in a courtroom.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN ACADEMIC ISSUES AND OTHER LEGAL ISSUES

At the outset, it is important to note that courts treat academic issues differently from other legal issues that may arise within universities. For example, students who have a pure academic dispute are generally required to exhaust the internal procedure before initiating a court proceeding. On the other hand, matters of a general legal nature - such as an allegation that a university was negligent and caused harm to a student - are permitted to proceed immediately to court.

While this distinction appears to be clear at face value, it is often more obscure in practice. For example, consider the circumstances of a student who alleges that their course failure was caused by negligent instruction by the university. Is this an academic issue or a legal one? Most recently, this question has been resolved by examining the remedy being sought by the student. If the student wishes to have a grade of "fail" changed to a "pass," then the decision is purely academic in nature and ought to go through the internal procedure at the university. However, if the student is seeking monetary compensation for lost opportunities, the issue is a legal one and the student may immediately start a legal proceeding in negligence.2 Courts will generally not entertain claims for monetary compensation when the claim is, in substance, an attempt to reverse a grading decision by the university.

DEFERENCE WILL GENERALLY BE EXTENDED TO THE UNIVERSITY'S DECISION

The distinction between academic disputes and other legal issues also has an impact on the role of the court in the proceeding. If the claim is a legal one, then the court will make its own factual findings and reach its own legal conclusions. However, if...