Garcia v. Metro. State Univ. of Denver
| Decision Date | 24 February 2020 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 19-cv-02261-RBJ |
| Parties | DENETTE GARCIA, Plaintiff, v. METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER, BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER, JANINE DAVIDSON, in her official capacity, BRAELIN PANTEL, in her official capacity, DAVE HADEN, in his official capacity, KELLI FRANK in her official capacity and in her individual capacity, LAYTON SETH CURL, in his official capacity and individual capacity, and KRISTEN LYONS in her individual capacity, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Colorado |
ORDER
This is a civil action brought by Denette Garcia, a former student of defendant Metropolitan State University of Denver ("MSU"), against MSU and MSU's Board of Trustees ("the Board"). In addition, Ms. Garcia brings claims again Janine Davidson, MSU's president; Braelin Pantel, MSU's Associate Vice President of Student Engagement & Wellness and Dean of Students; and Dave Haden, MSU's Associate Dean of Student Engagement & Wellness, in their official capacities. She further joins Layton Seth Curl, the department chair and a professor of psychology at MSU, and Kelli Frank, MSU's Director of Behavioral Intervention and Student Conduct in their official and individual capacities. Finally, she joins Kristen Lyons, an MSU faculty member, in her individual capacity. Amended Complaint, ECF No. 28.
Defendants move to dismiss all claims under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). ECF No. 31. For the following reasons, the defendants' motion is granted in part and denied in part.
Ms. Garcia was employed in nursing until she suffered a head injury in 2008. ECF No. 28 at 4. She alleges that, as a result of her injury, Ms. Garcia experiences physical and mental impairments that substantially limit her activity. Id. Her impairments affect her "mental functional ability" and cause "specific learning disabilities." Id. at 4-5. She has trouble "speaking, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking and communicating and interacting with others." Id. at 5.
After Ms. Garcia became disabled and was unable to continue nursing, she enrolled in college classes part-time. Id. She enrolled at MSU in 2014, and she has completed 134 credit hours. Id. Upon enrollment Ms. Garcia requested that MSU grant her accommodations for her disability as required under the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C.A § 701. Id. MSU did so. In addition to other accommodations, MSU provided her with additional time to complete assignments and tests. Id.
During the 2017-18 school year Ms. Garcia was suspended following several interactions with a professor in the MSU psychology department. Id. at 6. According to MSU, Ms. Garcia sent threatening emails to the professor who refused to change her grade. ECF No. 31 at 2. As a result of this incident MSU circulated information about Ms. Garcia and her disability to faculty members. ECF No. 28 at 6.
Ms. Garcia enrolled in an online child psychology class taught by Dr. Kristen Lyons in the spring of 2019. Id. Professor Lyons received a letter from Greg Sullivan, Director of theAccess Center at MSU, which told Professor Lyons that Ms. Garcia had requested accommodations and instructed Professor Lyons to review Ms. Garcia's Accommodation Notification Letter and follow its instructions. Id. The letter stated that Ms. Garcia was entitled to 100% additional time on quizzes and exams. Id.
On February 24, 2019 Ms. Garcia emailed Professor Lyons regarding an article Ms. Garcia had submitted for a class assignment. Id. at 7. Ms. Garcia's email stated in relevant part:1
Hello there kiddo, I'm responding to the message you sent below. I was under the impression that we were able to look for articles of our choosing to write a research paper if we are writing a paper to your standards and likening then you'll never know how we write a paper in our own language and words. I will get hold of your friends at the library to see what exactly you want us to do. Can you please try and allow theses kids to explore on their own what they want pertaining to the research so that they are able to stand on their own two feet. Psychology is really difficult because it's not a valid field of practice because Darwin and Froyd based their beliefs on theory while smoking Marijuana I hear, and nothing tested has ever been 100% and there are things that haven't been tested. I've done nursing 22 years and I know it is a valid practice because we know which medicine works and what doesn't and psychology a person just has to guess, for example: The pshch evaluation is not a 100% accurate because we were told by doctor Froyd who helped put the test together, that the test itself will not accomidate other ethnic groups because originally the test was put together in the 1960s to accomidate single white males, so anyone else of another ethnic group or culture will not understand the test and may flunk the test, and yet police departments are still gullible to use it. The same as psychology, we must work together as a team to see what works but if the professor is working against us then we will never learn. For example: Try to send us a sample of an approved article via blackboard on the first day of class so that were not trying to guess? This approach would have worked better, because if you had sent a sample of the articles when class started then I wouldn't have been given a bad grade twice by you. As far as your message below and the sample you provided I did receive it the other day and will try and work as fast as I can with the little time I have to get you the paper.
Professor Lyons responded describing the requirements for the assignment and the exam review policy. That same day, Ms. Garcia replied as follows:
Also Mrs. Lyons the exam yesterday was a lot, especially since it was 5 chapters which is hard to remember and can be very traumatizing, Is there anyway we can get a study guide? I'm only human and my brain doesn't carry that much information. Psychology Doctor Froyd once said that a person can only remember 10% of what they learned in a week and I sure do believe that! Also some of the questions on the exam were quite vague or misspelled and misleading, for example question 8 says "Which which of the following theories places the heaviest emphasis on the biological bases of behavior? And then some of the answers were not what we read about, unless I have the wrong book. Another question that didn't make sense was question 10 which says "Studies have found that children report that vegetables taste better when they are served the vegetables in a Macdonalds box compared to a plain box". I don't understand this statement because it doesn't make sense. If you don't mind me saying, Whoever wrote this test is not very good in the English language because they are not using sentences, verbs, nouns, etc, the way they are supposed to be used which can mislead students and can cause them to choose the wrong answer like myself because it confuses the human brain. Another question that was misleading and wasn't spelled right is question which says "Linda is a neuroscientist who studies brain development. She studies; "the definition of a Neuroscientist, is the study and development of the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerve cells through the body. So I picked "cognitive", as my answer and it still said it was wrong? Even though cognitive has to do with the brain, because it has to do with mental processing, so the answer should have been right I have friends that are neuroscientist and they say they study cognitive development. So hopefully we can work together to fix this problem on the exams, and if there is any way to give us students credit that missed these questions because they are very confusing.
That day Professor Lyons submitted a "Care Report" to Kelli Frank, the director of behavioral intervention and student conduct. Id. at 9. The report stated:
On February 25, 2019 Professor Lyons emailed the entire class regarding the exam and stated that students who were confused by questions or felt they should have earned more points could email her pursuant to the appeal policy detailed in her syllabus. Id. She explained that requests for re-scoring must "include evidence from the notes or book about why you think your answer was correct." Id. Other students apart from Ms. Garcia expressed concerns about the test questions. Id.
On February 26, 2019 Professor Lyons emailed Ms. Garcia stating that Id. at 9-10.
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