A former Lehigh University student who sued her school over a C+ grade she received will not get a new trial, a Northampton County judge ruled.
Megan Thode, 28, who graduated from the university in 2009, asked Judge Emil Giordano to reconsider the verdict he made in February, in which he rejected her claims and found that the Pennsylvanian university had "neither breached contract nor discriminated against her when it awarded her the grade in 2009 in a master's degree fieldwork class," the Morning Call reported.
In her $1.3 million lawsuit, Thode said the mark ruined her chance of becoming a licensed professional counselor and believed it was part of an effort to force her out of the graduate degree program.
Thode ended up graduating from the university with a master's degree in human development, and is working as a drug-and-alcohol counselor. The amount of money she was suing the school for "represented the difference in her earning power over her career if she had a professional license," the Morning Call reported.
Thode, who is the daughter of Lehigh finance professor Stephen Thode, was attending the university tuition-free when she got the C+. She needed a B or higher to take the next course.
During a four-day civil trial, Lehigh University's attorney argued that Thode showed unprofessional behavior that included outbursts and swearing in class. They said she was not academically and emotionally ready "to move on."
Thode filed internal grievances; showed up for meetings with her father; and insisted that her teacher, Amanda Carr, give her a written apology and a "plan for compensating me financially," the Morning Call reported. This effort was unsuccessful.
In the lawsuit, Thode's lawyer Richard Orloski said she should have received a better grade than 0 in classroom participation. He said Amanda Carr, teacher of the course she received the grade in and Nicholas Ladany- then director of the degree program - "conspired to hold Thode back because they were unhappy she'd complained after she and three other students were forced to find a supplemental internship partway through the semester," the Morning Call reported.
Thode and Orloski could appeal Giordano's decision to Superior Court.