College Shorts NYU, UTexas, and Houston Have Their Days in Court

Author: Andrea Gissing

NYU Expels Disabled Student

Mike Donnelly, a student at New York University's Graduate School of Arts and Science's John W. Draper Interdisciplinary Master's Program in Humanities and Social Thought, was expelled after one semester for failing to meet the program's academic requirement. Donnelly, who has been registered at NYU since 1999, was diagnosed with chronic depression almost 10 years ago. His expulsion followed his request to his professors for assistance in completing his courses after his condition worsened.
Donnelly, 41, is currently pursuing a complicated appeals process, as he doubts his academic record was the real reason for his expulsion. He believes that he was expelled because accommodating his illness inconvenienced Draper administrators and that they "don't understand mental illness at all."
A spokesman from NYU rebutted Donnelly's statement by saying that mentally ill students have successfully completed the Draper Program in the past.
When Donnelly's condition worsened, he discussed his disability with his professors and requested accommodations that are allowed by the Americans with Disabilities Act, including that he be given "incomplete" grades on his transcript. Draper students are allowed one year to complete work. Once the program confirmed that Donnelly was registered with a center for students with disabilities, he was granted two temporary incompletes with extensions on his final papers from Dec. 16, 2002 to Jan. 13, 2003.
Other reasons for the expulsion include subpar work on assignments, as well as missing a significant number of classes. Donnelly claims he was absent for only one class in each course and that he was denied access to attendance sheets in order to confirm the dates he was absent.
Donnelly said that suing NYU for discrimination is one of his possible courses of action.

Source: U-Wire


Student Charged With Hacking

Christopher Andrew Phillips, a student at the University of Texas, Austin, was charged on with hacking into the UT-Austin computer system and stealing information from the school. Authorities filed federal charges against Phillips, accusing him of unlawful access to a protected computer as well as unlawful use of a means of identification.
Phillips was accused of stealing social security numbers, among other things, from over 55,000 students, faculty and staff members.
According to court papers, Phillips told officials that he had no intention of misusing the information to harm anyone. He said he had written a computer program that accessed a university Web site that tracked employees who attended training classes.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to eight years in prison.
Phillips turned himself in was released without bail, under orders to not use a computer without permission.

Source: CNN.com


Court Against U. Houston in Free Speech Policy

In the continuing saga between the administration of the University of Houston and the Pro-Life Cougars, a U.S. District Court found U. Houston's original public demonstration policy to be unconstitutional. The court granted the Pro-Life Cougars, a U. Houston student organization, its motion for summary judgement.
The judgement came after the Pro-Life Cougars filed a federal court lawsuit in January 2002 against U. Houston Vice President of Student Affairs Elqyn C. Lee and Dean William F. Munson when their application for a photo exhibit across campus was rejected. The Pro-Life Cougars charged U. Houston with violating the First Amendment by stifling the group's right to free speech and the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection.
The court ruled that U. Houston's policy, which allowed administrators to refuse the Pro-Life Cougars' application to make a display, was unconstitutional because it gave Munson "unfettered discretion" in choosing which groups could use public space for exhibits or other expressive activity. The policy does not prevent Munson from denying permits based on the content.
"We're completely thrilled [with the court's decision]," said Pro-Life Cougars Chairman Jonathan Saenz, a UH law student. "We think it's a tremendous victory for Pro-Life Cougars, the University of Houston community and the First Amendment as well."

Source: U-Wire