[hgd7833]

I am a PhD international student in a public state university and a teaching assistant as well who is working as 20 hours a week in the department with stipends and tuition fees waives. Rules of the department that during our studies, we have to go through a sequence of qualifying exams, and a student must pass all exams. If he fails in one, he can retake it once, and he fails again then he will be dismissed from the program. I have failed twice in one of the exams (the last one) and according to the rules the department decided to dismiss me although I have finished all requirements of the degree, almost done with my dissertation and was very close to finish my degree. I'd rather not go in details how the grading of my exam was very strict and unfair, but the important thing is the following; I spoke to one of the students (US citizen) in our department, and he told me that last year he got the same experience, and he failed one of the exams twice, and the chair of the exam committee has told him the following: " You did terrible and you don't deserve to pass, but the department decided to pass you just to keep you around here because we are hoping that you will do a good research, and this is a gift from the department to you to give you a chance to finish your degree, but you totally don't deserve the pass " he told me that I was very happy about that but at the same time he is very frustrated now why didn't do the same thing with me. I am afraid that I have been discriminated here. The good news is that he is ready to admit and confess if this will help, and he confirms all of his story through emails between us, and so his story and his claims are all documented so there is no way to deny that.
I would like to draw your attention to the following facts:
1) My situation and profile is much better and stronger than him when he failed that exam and they decided to pass him. At that time, he did not pass all exams, nor did he finish all courses, but I did, and my GPA is higher than him, and he did not begin his research yet while I am nearly done with it.
2) I am international student and the only Arab and Muslim student here and the majority of faculties and students are US, and some body told me that minority rules apply to you in this case.
3) I have been discriminated before in the department a couple of years ago, when they split US students from international students in their offices, they give US students tidy and clean offices while give me a bad office shared with a Chinese student. I've objected that and accuse them of being discriminating me and they have placed me in another room with a US student.

I totally believe that their decision to fail me was unfair, but does the story of the student give me a good case of filing a complaint of discrimination here ? Do I have a good case here? If yes, what to do ? From where to begin ?
I hope anyone will help me in this.

[excon]

Do I have a good case here? If yes, what to do ? from where to begin ?

Hello h:

I don't think you do... But, having ignored their scoring system ONCE might give you a shot. However, unless you can PROVE they did this because of your race or ethnicity, I'd leave the discrimination part out of it. Proving they violated their OWN rules might be enough...

I absolutely would NOT handle this without a lawyer.

excon

[hgd7833]

Right, it might not be a discrimination issue, but at least they didn't apply equal opportunity policy.
So, forget about discrimination issue, but is this story enough for me to complaint for not being granted the same opportunity that was granted to others ?

[hgd7833]

Right, it might not be a discrimination issue, but at least they didn't apply equal opportunity policy.
So, forget about discrimination issue, but is this story enough for me to complaint for not being granted the same opportunity that was granted to others ?

[hgd7833]

When I asked do I have a good case, I meant the complaint of being dismissed not the issue of discrimination. Thanks

[joypulv]

I think you have a case based on whether you can prove that the other student did get around the rule as he says (paper proof, not just his say so). If you can find another such student, even better.
They 'discriminated' in favor of one student, making the rule itself suspect as a tool to oust any student who fails twice but keep the ones they want to keep.
An analogy would be the landlord of a housing complex who evicts the one tenant who is organizing a tenants union, on grounds that many other tenants have also violated without any repercussions (3 payments a year past the 3rd day due, e.g.) I have seen such an eviction get tossed out in a minute.

[Fr_Chuck]

First you are going to have to prove what you were told by this other student was really true, also dismissals are often done on a one by one basis, so there may have been other issues,
** often in colleges I have found the size of the parents pocket book also makes a big difference.

The issue here is that you failed to pass according to the rules, so I don't see where this can make you pass, but it may get the college to have to review their rules and take away what they gave the other student.

Proving race was the reason will be the issue, you will need to get documents that prove your case.

Of course it also may have merely been another student lying to you, to make you feel worst

[hgd7833]

He joypulv. I have a proof of the other student's story that he admitted and said that in details in his emails. Also, he was willing to talk to a professor about his experience and the professor told me that he met the student and is surprised.

[hgd7833]

Hey Fr_Chuck. The student cannot lie simply cause he already met some professor and told him all the story, and he also wrote it down in emails. There is no sense that he lies and put himself in troubles if he is lying.

[hgd7833]

Thanks to all. I think I was wrong when I titled as discrimination, I should say : non-equal opportunity was enot granted to me. Of course they have their rules that we should follow, that if I failed in an exam twice, I am out. BUT, they didn't apply this rule to a student simply because they like him. The only standard they used here is that as they tell him : we are hoping that you will make a good thesis ". This is exactly my case, and mine is even better since I already made and finished the thesis. There is no way for him to deny simply because we are friends and he would like to help me and I got all his emails documented. I am planning to file a complaint, but I was just wondering if this will be a good case or not.

[Fr_Chuck]

Of course other students can lie, perhaps not since he has meet with other professors, but I get lies in emails almost every day from someone.

[excon]

but I was just wondering if this will be a good cnot.

Hello again, h:

I KNOW what you want, but I can't give it to you. This is NOT a slam dunk case. I don't know HOW it would work out. If you have a good case and you wuss around about it, like filing your own complaint, you could take a GOOD case and BLOW it. On the other hand, if you have a weak case, and a very aggressive lawyer, you could win.

I think you have a 50/50 shot. If you visit a lawyer, he won't charge you for an initial consultation, and he can give you a much better assessment.

excon

[hgd7833]

Thanks excon. I have a question related to this story. I will post a new thread.