Olsson v. Board Of Higher Education

402 N.E.2d 1150 (1980)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Olsson (P) was a candidate for a Master’s Degree at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Having completed the bulk of his studies with an honors average P elected to take a final comprehensive examination. P’s professor described to the class the criteria that would be used in the grading of the upcoming examination. The students were supposed to be told that in addition to getting an overall grade of 2.8 on the exam the students would also have to score three out of five possible points on each of four of the five examination questions answered. In the course of relating this information, the professor misspoke and told the students that they must have a score of three on at least 3 of 5 questions. This left P and several of his classmates with the impression that they could get a passing grade by scoring at least three points on only three of the five questions. P learned to his surprise that even though his overall grade exceeded 2.8, he failed because he only received passing scores on three rather than four questions. P petitioned the academic appeals committee for reconsideration. P budgeted his time on the exam to maximize his scores on three of the five questions. The committee declined to change the grades. They did offer to expunge the grades and allow a re-examination. P declined and instead sued D under article 78 to compel the college to award him a diploma. P contends that D should be estopped from applying a standard different than one announced in class. Both the trial court and the Appellate Division sided with P and ordered D to award P a diploma in his chosen field nunc pro tunc. The courts reasoned that there were no written grading procedures in place and that because of the professor’s error, D should bear the ultimate responsibility.