Unhappy with his grade, a student sued for an order requiring the school to switch to a pass/fail system.

Timothy Keefe, a student at New York Law School, was pretty unhappy when he was assigned a “C” in a legal writing course.

How unhappy? So unhappy that he sued, claiming the school breached an implied contract it had entered into with him. Keefe asked the court to require the school to move to a pass-fail grading system.

Keefe based his contract claim on statements on the school’s Web site, including phrases like “the right program for every student.”

The court rejected his claim. To win, Keefe needed to show the school made specific promises to him regarding his education there. The general language he relied on wasn’t enough to create a contract.

Courts are reluctant to review grading decisions because doing so “inappropriately involve[s] the courts in the very core of academic and educational decision making.” They won’t step in without a showing of “bad faith, arbitrariness, capriciousness, irrationality or a constitutional or statutory violation.”

Keefe fell well short of making this showing, and his lawsuit was dismissed.

Cite: Keefe v. New York Law School.

What recourse do students at your school have when they’re unhappy with a grade? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Tags: grading, New York Law School, pass/fail