An art student at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont. has sued the school in federal court because she wants her degree even though she has flunked two basic math classes required to graduate.
The student, Hannah Valdez, wants a federal judge to force the school to allow her to substitute two non-math courses for her degree instead, reports The Montana Standard, a newspaper out of Butte.
Donald Harris, the attorney representing Valdez, says his client has a throng of disabilities including Asperger’s syndrome, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He says she also has dyscalculia—a difficulty understanding numbers and doing arithmetic that is more or less analogous to dyslexia.
Consequently, Valdez’s lawsuit claims, she has real trouble with things like algebra, trigonometry, statistics and calculus.
“They don’t understand her disability,” Harris said, according to The Standard. “The stress and anxiety that Hanna feels when she is trying to be successful with math classes affects her other studies, as well.”
Valdez, who wants to be a graphic artist, gamely tried to pass the math classes but did not succeed. She requested to substitute non-math courses in the spring of 2012. Rocky Mountain College officials denied the request.
The lawsuit notes that officials have admitted that Valdez was allowed to matriculate at the school despite an SAT math score in the bottom five percent of all SAT takers. It’s unclear if Valdez understood the school’s graduation requirements before enrolling.
The suit claims negligence by Rocky Mountain College and discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was successfully transferred to federal court earlier this month.
Harris, the lawyer, notes that the school allows students to substitute for required courses in certain circumstances, such as course cancellations. He also suggested that Valdez doesn’t need art.
“Nobody will say these general education classes are essential to a degree in art,” he asserted, according to The Standard.
The suit claims that Valdez will end up with substantial student debt but nothing to show for it if she can’t graduate because the college makes no accommodation for her disability.
Barbara Vail, a vice president at Rocky Mountain College, said the school will not sacrifice its distribution requirements.
“We’re very serious that a degree from Rocky means something,” she said.
At the same time, Vail added that the school has done much to accommodate Valdez, including offering free tutoring from a math professor who has experience teaching math to people with disabilities. Other accommodations on offer involve time extensions on tests and the opportunity to take a logic course instead of one of the math classes.
Rocky Mountain College, the oldest college in Montana, is career-oriented bastion affiliated with no fewer than three mainline Protestant denominations.
According to U.S. News, the school enrolls just over 1,000 students. The acceptance rate is about 63 percent. Annual tuition and fees are just over $23,000.
The lawsuit against the school is eerily reminiscent of the suit filed by Megan Thode, a graduate of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. who sued the school for $1.3 million because she is unhappy that she got a C+ in a class in 2009. (RELATED: Lehigh University student got a C+ and now seeks $1.3 million in lawsuit)
Thode’s case went to trial in February. She lost. She’s still mad about the C+, though. Just this week, her attorney, Richard J. Orloski, asked the judge in the case to reverse the verdict against her or grant a new trial, reports The Morning Call of Allentown.
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