Johnson v. Sullivan, 13659
| Decision Date | 16 November 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 13659,13659 |
| Citation | 174 Mont. 491,571 P.2d 798 |
| Parties | Sandra S. JOHNSON, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Robert E. SULLIVAN et al., Defendants and Respondents. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
William George Harris, argued, Missoula, for plaintiff and appellant.
George L. Mitchell, argued, Missoula, for defendants and respondents.
Plaintiff Sandra S. Johnson appeals from a judgment of the District Court, Missoula County, upholding her exclusion from the School of Law of the University of Montana for failure to meet academic standards. By her action plaintiff sought readmission to the law school, the removal from her academic record of a grade of F received in a Constitutional Law course, and to have her cumulative grade point average computed without regard to this failing grade.
Defendants, hereinafter referred to as the University are: Robert E. Sullivan, Dean of the School of Law of the University of Montana; Richard C. Bowers, President of the University of Montana; and Lawrence K. Pettit, Commissioner of Higher Education of the State of Montana.
Following trial of the cause without a jury, the District Court entered judgment denying the relief sought and rescinding a restraining order and injunction pendente lite under which plaintiff had been permitted to attend classes.
Plaintiff entered the University of Montana School of Law in the fall of 1973, and successfully completed her first two semesters of study. She received a grade of F in the Constitutional Law course and grades of D in two other courses taken during her third semester, and consequently, was deficient by eleven grade points at the end of that semester. Plaintiff was excluded from the law school under the applicable exclusionary rule which provides that students with a deficiency of six or more grade points at the end of their third semester are not allowed to continue their law studies. Plaintiff's second petition for readmission subsequent to that exclusion was granted by the law school faculty, and she returned for the next academic year. At the end of that year, her academic performance was deficient by eight grade points. Plaintiff was excluded again, in this instance for failure to meet the law school requirement that a student have a cumulative grade point average of 2.0, which is a zero grade point deficiency, at the completion of the fourth semester.
Plaintiff again petitioned for readmission. The petition was denied. She then brought this action and obtained a restraining order and injunction pendente lite permitting her to attend third-year classes. Following entry of judgment against her in the District Court, plaintiff appealed and obtained a stay of judgment and a restoration of the injunction pending determination of the merits on appeal.
The central issue on appeal is whether the practices, policies, rules and procedures under which the fitness of a student to continue the study of law is appraised, as applied to plaintiff, violate Constitutional requirements of due process and equal protection and section 93-2002, R.C.M.1947.
Plaintiff's argument with respect to this issue is based on her contention that the method by which the University computed her cumulative grade point average is unfair and unreasonable.
The University computes a student's cumulative grade point average by dividing the number of grade points earned by the number of credits undertaken. For the purpose of this determination, four grade points are assigned for each credit of A, three grade points for each credit of B, two grade points for each credit of C, one grade point for each credit of D, and zero grade points for each credit of F.
Under the general University rule, the last grade received in a repeated course replaces the prior grade. If a student repeats a course for which he or she initially received a grade of F, the student's cumulative grade point average reflects only the last grade earned; the failing grade is not applied to the computation of the student's cumulative grade point average.
In the School of Law, however, a student's cumulative grade point average is computed on the basis of all courses for which a student has registered and received a grade. If a grade of F is received in a law school course and the course is repeated, both the initial F and the last grade received are included in the computation of the student's cumulative grade point average. In effect, the law school averages both grades received in a repeated course, while other schools and departments of the University generally do not.
Plaintiff received her failing grade in Constitutional Law, a course required for graduation from the School of Law. By law school regulation, she therefore was required to repeat the course. In the repeated course, as in all courses taken during the academic year following her readmission, plaintiff received a passing grade. Her cumulative grade point average, however, remained below the 2.0 required of law students at the end of their fourth semester. This deficiency can be attributed to the continuing application of the failing grade to plaintiff's cumulative grade point average.
Plaintiff first contends this method of computing a student's cumulative grade point average, as applied to her, violates due process requirements and denies a fair and equal application of the academic requirements for graduation.
The test for determining whether due process requirements are met was set forth by this Court in Milk Control Board v. Rehberg, 141 Mont. 149, 155, 376 P.2d 508, 512 (1962). Quoting the United States Supreme Court in Nebbia v. New York, 291 U.S. 502, 54 S.Ct. 505, 78 L.Ed. 940, 89 A.L.R. 1469 (1934), this Court stated:
" * * * '(T)he guaranty of due process * * * demands only that the law shall not be unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious, and that the means selected shall have a real and substantial relation to the object sought to be attained.' * * * "
In the present case, the question is whether it is unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious for the University to include both grades received for a repeated course in its computation of a law student's cumulative grade point average. Resolution of this question turns on the relation between that method of computation and the objectives the University has in determining a grade point average.
The immediate objective of any method of computing a grade point average is to provide an accurate, easily understood measure of academic performance. As it relates to the law school's exclusionary rule, a student's grade point average is used as an indication of his or her presumed fitness to continue the study of law. If a student's grade point average falls below a set standard, University rules authorize the law school to exclude the student from further study.
Because of this state's "diploma privilege", graduates of the School of Law may be admitted to practice on motion; they are not necessarily required to take and pass the state's bar examination. Graduation from the School of Law, therefore, virtually guarantees admission to practice. Ultimately, then, the object of measuring academic performance and allowing or precluding a law student's continued study on the basis of that performance is to assure that graduates of the School of Law are qualified to enter practice.
The University argues that its method of computing law students' cumulative grade point averages is reasonably related to the objectives of determining first, academic competence, and ultimately, in light of the "diploma privilege", the probability of professional competence. At the trial of the present case, Robert E. Sullivan, Dean of the School of Law, testified the rule requiring the application of both grades received for a repeated course "goes to the determination of a capacity and capability of a person to become a lawyer." He also testified that the law school faculty, in promulgating this rule, considered that a repeater would have the benefit of having taken the...
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...utmost deference to our legislature's decision: any conceivable purpose will satisfy rational basis review. See Johnson v. Sullivan, 174 Mont. 491, 498, 571 P.2d 798, 802 (1977) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted) ("[I]n applying this rational basis test, a discrimination will ......
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