Introducing the litigious student

“In recent years, across a number of countries, there have been occasional court cases involving actions brought by students against their universities …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 19 March]

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Students now hiring solicitors to fight charges of plagiarism

“Students facing disciplinary hearings on suspicion of plagiarism have started to hire solicitors to avoid being thrown out of college, a leading academic has said. According to Michael Laffan, associate professor of history in UCD, students who are caught writing essays with information gleaned from websites such as Wikipedia are increasingly arming themselves with legal experts which often results in college authorities letting them off …” (more)

[Jennifer Bray, Sunday Tribune, 4 October]

Blogmeister’s comment: I hope that none of the students referred to are identifiable from the article, otherwise Michael Laffan may soon be on the sharp end of some defamation claims as well … Seriously, I find it hard to believe that UCD don’t take proper legal advice (whether in-house or out-sourced) in such serious cases. They really shouldn’t complain when the students do likewise.

‘The Trials of Academe’

“When in doubt, sue. That philosophy has become an expected part of American society and (to the frustration of many in higher education) academe as well. A new book – The Trials of Academe: The New Era of Campus Litigation (Harvard University Press) – combines humor and history to examine the impact (most of it negative) of academic disputes landing in court. Amy Gajda, the author, is assistant professor of journalism and law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She responded via e-mail to questions about her book …” (more)

[Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 22 September]

Colleges shell out €7m for bitter internal staff disputes

“Irish colleges have wasted in excess of €7m dealing with bitter and complex internal staff disputes despite the recession, new figures obtained by the Sunday Independent reveal. Several universities have been involved in lengthy disputes with members of staff and new information reveals an alarming number of bullying and harassment claims from within the country’s leading colleges …” (more)

[Daniel McConnell, Independent, 12 July]

Blogmeister’s comment: This is an irritating story, as it hints at “new revelations” and portentously cites “well-placed sources”, yet gives no new information whatever – every concrete fact mentioned is already public domain. All the cases referred to are very old news indeed, and in each one of them it is several years too late to be suggesting that the universities “engage in mediation before wasting money on expensive court cases”. The real story is that there are actually remarkably few new disputes at the moment – no doubt partly because both management and unions have other, larger fish to fry.