Schuler v. University of Minnesota
| Decision Date | 10 April 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-5160,85-5160 |
| Citation | 788 F.2d 510 |
| Parties | 31 Ed. Law Rep. 770 Joanne Mary SCHULER, Appellant, v. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry Research; C. Peter Magrath, President; Professor Robinette, Academic Affairs; Professor Floyd Lofquist, Chairman; Professor Travis Thompson; Professor Gordon T. Heistad; Professor Thomas Bouchard; Professor Auke Tellegen; Professor Paul Meehl; Professor Roy Pickens; Professor Gloria Leon; Professor Leonard Heston; Professor Warren Roberts; Professor A. Sparber; and Professor E. Agan, School of Nursing, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Joanne Mary Schuler, pro se.
Barbara L. Shiels, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellees.
Before ROSS, BOWMAN and WOLLMAN, Circuit Judges.
Joanne M. Schuler appeals pro se from an order of the district court 1 granting summary judgment to the defendants in a Sec. 1983 civil rights suit filed by Schuler challenging her academic dismissal from the graduate program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota (the University). In her complaint Schuler alleged causes of action based upon procedural and substantive due process; discrimination on the basis of sex, age and emotional handicap; and pendent state law claims including malpractice, fraud and misrepresentation, negligent infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, conversion and defamation. 2 We affirm.
In order to earn a Ph.D. in psychology at the University, a graduate student must 1) complete the courses included in his or her approved doctoral program; 2) pass five written preliminary examinations, four in general areas and one in the student's area of specialization; 3) pass the preliminary oral examination, at which point the student becomes an official Ph.D. candidate; 4) write a thesis within five years of establishing candidacy; and 5) defend the thesis in a final oral examination.
According to the University's Graduate School Bulletin, "[t]he preliminary oral examination covers the major field and may also cover the minor field or supporting program and any work fundamental thereto, including possible plans for thesis research." The questions asked during preliminary oral examinations vary, and both the questions and the student's answers are unrecorded. In order to pass the examination, a student must receive at least four passing votes from among the five examining committee members. The Bulletin explicitly states:
Failure of the Examination--Students failing the preliminary oral (a) may be allowed, on unanimous recommendation of the examining committee, to retake the examination or (b) may be excluded from candidacy for the degree. * * * No more than two preliminary oral examinations are allowed.
Schuler was originally admitted into the masters degree program in the Department of Psychology, but moved into the doctoral degree program within that department in 1973. In March 1974, the Graduate College formally approved Schuler's proposed Ph.D. program in the area of experimental psychology. By the end of 1974, Schuler had completed substantially all of the required coursework toward her degree, consistently receiving very high marks from her professors. 3 At that time, she passed three of the four general written preliminary examinations; however, she failed the fourth and did not attempt the fifth examination, covering her area of specialization. She eventually retook and passed the fourth general written examination in January 1978, 4 and successfully completed the fifth in October 1979.
Schuler's first preliminary oral examination was scheduled on December 6, 1979. In her complaint Schuler alleged that prior to the exam, Professor Gordon T. Heistad, her advisor, told her that she need not study, that the oral examination would cover past academic work, and that thesis plans would not be a topic of inquiry. Professor Heistad maintains that he told Schuler to study the areas in which she was weak, but suggested that her preparation for the written examinations would serve as the primary preparation for the oral. The examination lasted approximately forty-five minutes, during which time Schuler alleged she was questioned extensively about her thesis plans. Although the examining committee voted three to two against passing Schuler, the members unanimously agreed to allow her to retake the examination.
Schuler's second oral examination was administered on March 8, 1982, by a reformulated examining committee. Prior to the retake, Schuler allegedly was told by her advisor and by various committee members that the examination would focus upon her thesis research. The examination was between one and one-half to two hours in length and consisted of four questions which, Schuler argues, dealt primarily with topics covered in graduate coursework rather than with her own thesis research. Subsequent to the exam, two of the five committee members voted to fail Schuler, resulting in her second failure of the oral exam and her exclusion from candidacy for the doctoral degree.
In December of 1982, Schuler filed a grievance with the Psychology Department Grievance Committee in which she claimed that her advisors had misdirected and obstructed her; that her academic freedom had been violated; that she had been denied an academic "parent" from whom she could obtain proper guidance; and that her age, sex and past history had isolated her from the faculty. The committee met on two occasions for a total of seven hours to hear testimony from Schuler, Professors Heistad and Thompson, and two other members of the second oral examining committee. In its report, the committee concluded that Schuler's grievance was unsupported by the record. Schuler appealed the decision to the Graduate School Grievance Committee. That committee declined to formally consider Schuler's appeal, finding no procedural irregularities in the departmental hearing. Thereafter, Schuler filed suit in the district court against the University and fourteen University officials 5 seeking damages and declaratory and equitable relief. In an order dated March 26, 1985, the district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment.
Schuler first contends that both the manner in which the oral exam is structured and the procedures governing review of student grievances operated to deprive her of her constitutional right to procedural due process. Schuler's objections to the structure of the oral examination concern her lack of notice of the evaluative criteria, if any, by which her performance on the oral exam was judged and the lack of a reviewable record of oral exam questions and answers. Schuler's objections to the University's grievance review procedures focus on four issues: 1) the lack of an unbiased decisionmaker (i.e., four of the five members of the initial grievance committee were Psychology Department faculty); 2) the presence of her former advisors at the departmental hearing; 3) the inadequacy of that hearing (i.e., she alleged she was denied adequate time to present her grievance, access to counsel, and an opportunity to present documentary and testimonial evidence); and 4) the University's failure to follow the appeal procedures it had prescribed for the adjudication of student grievances.
The full procedural safeguards of the fourteenth amendment are inapplicable where, as here, a student is dismissed from a state educational institution for failure to meet academic standards. Horowitz, 435 U.S. at 86 n. 3, 98 S.Ct. at 953 n. 3. Dismissal of a student for academic reasons comports with the requirements of procedural due process if the student had prior notice of faculty dissatisfaction with his or her performance and of the possibility of dismissal, and if the decision to dismiss the student was careful and deliberate. Id. at 85, 98 S.Ct. at 952.
That Schuler had the requisite notice of faculty dissatisfaction with her performance and of the possibility of dismissal was amply demonstrated by the district court. (Order at 13-15). Schuler was informed by her advisor that she had failed the first oral exam. In the interim between the first and second exams, Dean Hein explained the consequences of a second failure to Schuler. Those consequences were also discussed in the Graduate School Bulletin. Finally, this first requirement of procedural due process set forth in Horowitz does not necessitate that prior to the examination Schuler be made aware of the criteria by which her performance will be judged or that those criteria be objective rather than subjective.
In concluding that the decision to dismiss a student must be careful and deliberate in order to comply with the due process clause, the Supreme Court's decision in Horowitz did not require that a hearing precede the decision. Id. at 86 n. 3, 98 S.Ct. at 953 n. 3. Clearly, the University went beyond what was constitutionally required in granting Schuler the opportunity to appear personally before the departmental grievance committee, however informal the hearing. Further, as the district court noted, if due process did not require the University to provide Schuler with a hearing prior to her academic dismissal, it would be anomalous to hold that due process requires the University to preserve a record of oral examinations for review.
In summary, Schuler's objections to the structure of the oral exam and her first three objections to the University's procedures governing review of student grievances were adequately considered by the district court and were appropriately resolved. However, Schuler's final argument, that the University deprived her of due process in failing to comply with its own procedural regulations in the adjudication of her grievance, was not addressed by the district court.
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