In advance, this is going to be quite long.
To summarize: I was academically dismissed after completing my major and finishing my fourth and final year, with a few credits short, due to a series of mental health and physical health issues that I faced over the course of my education. They're allowing me to finish my degree, but it will cost me $11,000. I feel like some of the courses should be waived and I'm wondering if I should get a lawyer to help negotiate my case. Is this situation worth it, and viable to try to contest?
I completed all four years, and my major, at one of the top art schools in the world (private). The institution is extremely strict and has a lot of rules, policies, and traditions that are often criticized for being unfair and sometimes unethical. But it's art school, so their ethos rules all else.
The following is a bit of context for the attitude of this school (feel free to skim to "the situation at hand")
They're known for being particularly strict with attendance. If you're absent for two classes, for whatever reason, even excusable absences, that is grounds for them having permission to drop you. Of course, most professors are human beings and will waive a justifiable absence... however, some won't, but the school leaves it up to the professor to decide because they want to allow their faculty the freedom to practice their creative teachings. Due to these policies, it's not uncommon for students to push themselves, their mental, and physical boundaries too far. I've seen classmates faint in class. Freshman year about half the class was asleep under their canvases during one of our three weekly eight-hour studio courses. I once spent the entire night in the ER, getting CT scans and other tests to be sure that I didn't have a serious ovarian condition, and then had to ask them to discharge me early because I couldn't miss another class with this one ruthless professor. So I took a cab straight from the hospital, to class, without having slept a wink. I told my professor that I wasn't well, and they said that if I went home, they would drop me from the course.. and just to stick it out for the next eight hours.
I was actually dropped from one studio course at this school, by a notoriously unsympathetic professor. I had a lot of health issues that year, which I later found out to be celiac disease. I missed two classes, once because of something unrelated to my health, but emergent (I forget what it was, this was in 2016) and the second was due to the final assignment literally being to make a pasta dish from scratch (don't ask me why, this is art school) so all of the kitchens in the dorms were filled with flour. Again, I didn't know that I had celiac at the time, but I was extremely ill the final two weeks of this course. I missed the class before the last because of how ill I was, but still fully intended to make it to the final critique with the pasta that I had been practicing, perfecting, and tasting. The professor dropped me from the course instantly, and said that there was no point in my coming to, or submitting my final.
I contested this numerous times with the dean of that department who repeatedly said that it was only up to the professor himself to allow me to finish the course and get credit, he rigidly refused. Even when I was diagnosed with celiac the following year I still couldn't get the department to allow me the credit even though my condition is covered by the American's with Disability act. I even went to the school's disability services department, where the counselor literally had celiac themselves to they could commiserate with me on the physical toll it can take, and even they said that the professor was in control and it would be up to him to make the call.
It took me all the way until the second semester of my senior year for the department to grant me the credit, really just to get me out of their hair because it was going to be more trouble than it was worth to withhold it.
Just to illustrate some of the cultures at this school for you.
Don't get me wrong, there were so many great reasons to go there, and I benefited in a lot of ways, the education and opportunities were phenomenal.
Again, I finished my major and all of my studio credits... however I still need to meet the requirements for seminar courses... which I still have to take six of... and this is where it gets tricky.
Over the course of my education, I was granted a reduced course load in some of the semesters that I was ill, being allowed to take below the minimum requirement for the semester, with the idea that I'd make up for them later, or even remotely. At the time it all worked out so that I would graduate with my class but take the remaining three seminar courses online the following summer/fall. The maximum number of courses allowed to be taken online and transferred in is three.
My senior year didn't go well. The major that I was in was one of the toughest ones, and the final year only consists of one class: thesis, which is supposed to be your only focus and priority throughout the year. They even recommend to all seniors that they apply for a reduced course load because they need to be spending all of their time on the collection.
I thought I could get away with having two seminars that year, but it was too much and a failed both. The saving grace was going to be the winter semester where you can take condensed courses that are fast-tracked over two months... but I wound up getting my dream internship, and I mean dream internship, it was a massive opportunity that I couldn't justify turning down so that I could make up for some credits. Internships do count for credits but only of the studio variety, which I had a surplus of.
I struggled a lot senior year because it was the first time ever that I had an expanse of time with no deadlines other than the very end. We had progress check-ins but they weren't rigid or with any specific requirements to be met as everyone's work is different. This is the year for your personal project and your free reign of the campus and all of the tools and supplies that it has to offer. This is when I was finally diagnosed with ADHD.
I was always a chronic procrastinator and left things until the day of the deadline, but that worked for me in a structured environment and heavy course load consisting of multiple demanding classes - having only a very small amount of available time for each assignment. So when senior year was wide-open, I floundered. I discovered that I had absolutely no concept of time and the ability to visualize the checkpoints that I was supposed to be meeting. The funny thing is that I was in the studio the most, just wasting my time doing tons of unproductive work that didn't amount to anything. I wound up whipping together my final collection of work in the very last month... I don't want to toot my own horn, but I do think that I had a decent amount of talent, my department head was invested in me, but I fell short due to not using my time effectively.
It was that final month that I sought professional help because I couldn't figure out why I couldn't finish anything even though I was constantly working on something - once I had answers and the tools to help me, I was able to complete my work and manage myself better. I finished with a D, which I think was harsh, but the department is rather political. I think the D was more representative of my department head's gradually mounting disappointment and my performance, over the course of the year than what I actually deserved for the concept, execution, and quality of my work.
I also went through a lot that year, living in an undesirable housing situation with my once-best-friend who was also in my department and class, this layered on a lot of extra emotional strain but I didn't feel like I could speak to any faculty about it as not to bring any issues from home into class.
Before the year ended I submitted paperwork for a leave of absence. I knew that I had more to do with the seminar courses but I really, really needed a break, and already had plans to move in with my partner overseas. I planned on returning this past winter to complete the remaining courses, which obviously was not possible due to today's circumstances.
However, I received notice that I had been academically dismissed, not through a leave of absence, but dismissal and deactivation of my account that summer, due to the grades that I received. Not expelled, just suspended until the autumn months with the opportunity to reinstate my position as a student for up to the next five years.
I felt dissed. I responded to the letter, eloquently and cordially, explaining that I had already applied for a leave of absence on my own terms, that I had experienced a lot of issues with my health over the course of my education and that I had just been diagnosed and dealing with managing my ADHD. I also stated that I recognized their reasoning, that now equipped with the tools to manage my physical and mental health, I would be ready in the autumn to finish the remaining courses, and to request permission from the professors of the courses that I had failed, to allow me to submit the final few papers that I needed to complete the requirements.
My request was denied, and to that I said, fuck it. (not literally)
I had finished my major courses, I had a full collection to back my portfolio, and I was already living overseas with my partner and starting the next chapter of my life. I decided that I was just going to get by without the degree, you don't need one for this anyway etc. Over that period I got married, freelanced quite successfully, and wound up on a documentary team somewhere on the furthest tip of Africa, all before the pandemic hit. Most of my friends from school were still living with their parents.
But obviously, things have changed, and even though I still don't think that I need a degree to progress my career, I'm wanting to apply to agencies and trying to figure out what to put on my resume (because I did spend four years and 200k on this school just like everyone else), is causing me a lot of turmoil.
The Current Situation
I kind of just want to make my life easier, swallow my pride, and get that piece of paper. If not just for my own confidence and peace of mind.
I reached out to the school to ask how I could proceed. Again, they said that I need to take six courses and that I could apply for an exception to the rule of only being allowed to transfer in three courses, allowing me to take them all online and as transfer.
So generous of them... but actually not quite. They're very tough on what courses they will actually pre-approve. This is not an opportunity to save money and take cheaper courses elsewhere, as it may seem, as their requirements are first - the course must be from a reputable university with a residential campus (what does that have to do with anything if it's online!?). I've tried submitting less expensive courses for approval, that are nearly identical to their pricer counterparts, and they get rejected every time! Basically, they will only accept a course priced over $1800. Yikes. I managed to emerge from school debt-free, but that's about all I had in the well. I'm not in a position where I can take out a loan, or shell out nearly 11k for... especially in a circumstance where I feel like some of these conditions, and courses could be waived. I got to the very end of both of the courses that I failed... and it's all related to the difficulties that I was facing at the time, some of which are legally protected.
Should I get a lawyer to help me contest the required course load?
I don't want them to just hand over the degree. There are courses that I'm genuinely looking forward to taking, but for the sake of time, money, and honestly, justice, I would like to have the requirement reduced to four or three courses in total.
Is this something that I should sue for? Or just seek legal assistance in order to negotiate? It seems like schools face lawsuits from dissatisfied families all the time, for even less legitimate reasons, how and why does this happen?
If a lawyer can actually help to get these requirements reduced, it would be cheaper for me to go that route than to take the classes, sadly.
Thank you to anyone who read this far, or skimmed this far. I would really appreciate the advice, how should I proceed? Should I even be pursuing this degree at all?
And please, be honest with me if my case isn't worth contesting and if I should just bite my tongue and take the courses as outlined. I just want to explore my options first, as not to bow in a situation where I should be standing my ground.
Submitted January 15, 2021 at 08:02AM by justonequestion2323 https://ift.tt/3oOz3j9
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