Amelunxen v. University of Puerto Rico

• Decision Date: 22 April 1986
• Docket Number: No. Civ. 84-2199(HL).,Civ. 84-2199(HL).
• Parties: Barbara Joan AMELUNXEN, Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO, Prof. Salvador Alemañy, Dr. Fred V. Soltero Harrington, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

637 F. Supp. 426

Barbara Joan AMELUNXEN, Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO, Prof. Salvador Alemañy, Dr. Fred V. Soltero Harrington, et al., Defendants.

No. Civ. 84-2199(HL).

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

April 22, 1986.

Victor E. Báez, Hato Rey, P.R., for plaintiff.

Angel L. Calero, Old San Juan, P.R., for defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

LAFFITTE, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Barbara Joan Amelunxen, filed this action against defendants, the University of Puerto Rico ("UPR"); Dr. Salvador Alemañy, Chancellor of the Mayaguez Campus of UPR; professors Dr. Flavio Padovani Padilla, Dr. Fred V. Soltero Harrington and Dr. Eneida B. de Rivero, the members of her master's Thesis Committee; Dr. Noemí Díaz, representative of the UPR Graduate School; and Attorney Rubén T. Nigaglioni, the hearing officer who presided over her administrative hearing. Plaintiff claims under 42 U.S.C. sections 1983, 1985 that her due process rights were violated when the Thesis Committee failed her oral thesis examination and the UPR Graduate School subsequently suspended her from the Master's Program. This court has jurisdiction of this action under 28 U.S.C. sect. 1331.

Defendants, UPR, the members of the Thesis Committee and the Mayaguez Campus Chancellor, and the Administrative Hearing Officer have presented separate motions to dismiss or, alternatively, motions for summary judgment. We treat the motion by the Thesis Committee members and Mayaguez Campus Chancellor as a motion for summary judgment. The motions by co-defendant, Attorney Nigaglioni, the Administrative Hearing Officer, and UPR are treated as motions to dismiss. The motions of all parties are GRANTED.

In August 1977, plaintiff, Barbara Joan Amelunxen enrolled in the UPR Graduate School, Mayaguez Campus, to pursue a Masters Degree in Chemistry. A Master's candidate at the Mayaguez Campus is required to take a fixed courseload and to research and write a thesis and present it before a committee of professors specializing in that field of study. To pass the thesis examination the graduate student must receive the unanimous approval of all members of the committee. A student who fails the oral thesis examination may retake the exam two more times at a later date in the semester or sometime the following semester. A classification of Non-Satisfactory ("NS") is given for each semester in which a student fails to pass the thesis examination. According to the "Rules that Regulate the Graduate Studies in the Mayaguez University Campus" ("Mayaguez Campus Graduate Studies Regulations"), a student who receives an "NS" classification for two consecutive semesters is automatically suspended from the Graduate School.

Ameluxen completed her required course work with a 3.75 average (4.0 point scale). She wrote a thesis entitled "Digestibility of the Leaf Protein Contents (LCP) and Pressed Fibrous Residues of Tropical Crops and the Determination of their Phenolic Contents." On May 7, 1982, she presented this thesis to the members of her Thesis Committee; co-defendants, Dr. Fred Soltero Harrington, Dr. Flavio Padovani Padilla, Dr. Jan García Rivera, and Dr. Noemí Díaz Santiago, the Graduate Studies representative. As part of the oral examination the Committee members questioned plaintiff on her thesis and her general knowledge of chemistry. The exam lasted approximately two and half hours.

Immediately following the examination, the Committee evaluated plaintiff's defense of her thesis and answers to basic chemistry. The Committee decided unanimously that plaintiff had not passed the exam. They stated in writing:

The Committee unanimously considers that the scientific value of the thesis in its experimental design, as well as the conclusions derived from the study, lack the merit and critical analysis required in a thesis work for a masters in science.

Co-defendant, Jan García-Rivera, a member of the Thesis Committee, stated:

During the course of "Amelunxen's" oral examination, the answers given to questions made by the "Thesis Committee" revealed that she lacked sufficient basic knowledge in the field of chemistry to be granted a Master's degree in chemistry. Furthermore, her explanations concerning the data sampling's control and management used as part of her thesis, demonstrated that she did not understand what is the scientific method known as replication (test's repetitions). A person who does not understand what is replication cannot be given a Master's degree in Chemistry, because replication is a very important and basic principle in the field of chemistry.

"Amelunxen" failed completely in both the logical explanation of her thesis, as well as in her lack of general knowledge of basic chemistry principles.

Co-defendant Flavio Padovani-Padilla, another committee member, stated:

The answers given by "Amelunxen" to the questions made during her oral examination showed to me and to the "Thesis Committee" that to a great extent, the data sampling and critical analysis used in her thesis were not correct, which in turn, made many of the conclusions of the thesis to be also incorrect. That the answers and explanations given by "Amelunxen" to the questions of the "Thesis Committee", during the course of the oral examination, did not support the work contained in the thesis, and showed her lack of general knowledge of chemistry's basic principles.

The evaluation of "Amelunxen" 's examination and defense of her thesis was made by me and by the other three (3) members of the "Thesis Committee" after an open and frank discussion among all of us of the poor quality of her answers to the questions made to her during the examination.

Amelunxen received an "NS" for the semester in which she failed her thesis examination. The following semester she received a second NS classification for her failure to improve the thesis or retake the oral examination. In accordance with the Mayaguez Campus Graduate Studies Regulations plaintiff was automatically suspended in January, 1983, after her second consecutive "NS" classification.

On February 1, 1983, Amelunxen requested the Mayaguez Graduate School Council to lift the administrative suspension and to grant her a Master's Degree in chemistry. The Council explained it had no authority to issue a student an academic degree, but it recommended that Ameluxen be readmitted and given a year extension to complete her Master's studies. Following this recommendation plaintiff paid the readmission fee to the UPR Graduate School.

Despite the Graduate School Council's recommendation, plaintiff was denied readmission by the Graduate Council for the Chemistry Department which reviews petitions for reenrollment. Plaintiff's failure to meet with the five member Chemistry Department Committee was cited as the reason for the denial. An attorney for plaintiff, Juan Jesús Ramírez Rivera, appealed plaintiff's suspension and denial of readmission to the Chancellor of the Mayaguez Campus, Dr. Salvador Alemañy. On August 9, 1983 the Chancellor sustained the Thesis Committee's evaluation of plaintiff's Thesis Examination and the University's decision to suspend her. Chancellor Alemañy testified in his affidavit that he based his decision to sustain plaintiff's suspension on the letter submitted by plaintiff's attorney and attached documents, including the Thesis Committee report on the results of Ameluxen's oral exam.

Plaintiff appealed the Chancellor's decision to the President of UPR, Dr. Ismael Almodóvar. The President granted Ameluxen the opportunity to present her complaint at an administrative hearing. Co-defendant, Attorney Rubén T. Nigaglioni, was appointed Hearing Officer by Chancellor Alema&nacutey. A hearing was held on May 30, 1984. To date no decision has been rendered by the Hearing Officer.¹

Plaintiff claims that the Thesis Committee's evaluation of her and her subsequent suspension was an arbitrary and capricious decision by the University and a violation of her due process rights. Plaintiff asks the court for an award of damages against the co-defendants jointly and severally, and for injunctive relief ordering UPR to issue her a Master's Degree in Chemistry.

At the outset, the court clarifies that it has no authority to order the University to award plaintiff a Master's Degree in Chemistry. See Regents of the Univ. of Mich. v. Ewing, ___ U.S. ___, 106 S.Ct. 507, 88 L.Ed.2d 523, (1985); Board of Curators, Univ. of Mo. v. Horowitz, 435 U.S. 78, 98 S.Ct. 948, 55 L.Ed.2d 124 (1978). However, since the prayer for relief in a complaint is to be liberally construed, see, generally, F.R.C.P. 54(d), we proceed on the basis that the plaintiff seeks, as part of her request for injunctive relief, the opportunity to improve her thesis and retake the oral examination.

An additional preliminary matter is defendants' suggestion in the Pre-Trial Order that the Court lacks jurisdiction because plaintiff filed this action prior to a decision by the Hearing Officer and, therefore, failed to exhaust her administrative remedies. We find that jurisdiction over plaintiff's claim is proper. In Patsy v. Board of Regents of State of Fla., 457 U.S. 496, 102 S.Ct. 2557, 73 L.Ed.2d 172 (1982), the Supreme Court held that exhaustion of state administrative remedies is not a prerequisite to bring a civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. sect. 1983. There, the Court explained "we have stated categorically that exhaustion is not a prerequisite to an action under sect. 1983 and we have not deviated from that position in 19 years since McNeese v. Bo. of Ed., 373 U.S. 668, 83 S.Ct. 1433, 10 L.Ed.2d 622 (1963)." 102 S.Ct. at 2560.

In support of their Motion for Summary Judgment the Mayaguez Campus Chancellor and each member of the Thesis Committee filed an affidavit. In response to their motion, plaintiff has filed her own affidavit and other documentary evidence. When evidence outside the pleadings is presented by the parties and considered by the court the...