Former mass communication graduate student Lisa Ladwig made a third and final appeal to the University after she said she was denied due process to receive a retroactive medical withdrawal. Ladwig said she was hospitalized during spring 2008 finals. After Ladwig’s recovery, the Graduate School dropped her from its program because of failing grades. Ladwig said she was passing her classes before hospitalization. Ladwig’s current appeal is through Academic Affairs. She said Jeannine Kahn, Academic Affairs assistant vice chancellor, agreed to meet with her.Kahn said she handles all appeals sent to Academic Affairs. Under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, University officials cannot discuss students’ grades without permission. Ladwig granted the University permission Oct. 6.Ladwig said Margaret DeFleur, associate dean for Graduate Studies and Research, advised her to seek a retroactive medical withdrawal instead of challenging her grades, including her disputed grade in Jinx Broussard’s public relations class. “All of my students should be confident that I will never discuss any student in a public forum,” Broussard said repeatedly.Last week DeFleur said she could not comment on the issue. After Oct. 6, DeFleur said she received only limited permission.Ladwig gave DeFleur permission to address “why they denied my appeal for a retroactive medical withdrawal since I fell ill after the University’s official withdrawal deadline.”Ladwig’s current appeal challenges the lack of due process she said she faced when requesting retroactive medical withdrawal. Ladwig said the Graduate School dean failed to meet with her.Eric Norman, associate dean of Student Advocacy and Accountability, said students with an administrative problem during the second stage of the appeal process must appeal within 14 days to the appropriate dean. That dean must then make a reasonable effort to contact the student in the following 14 days. “[The Student Handbook] says just make a reasonable effort. It doesn’t define the exact criteria,” Norman said.After DeFleur denied Ladwig’s first appeal, Ladwig said she appealed to the interim dean of the Graduate School, Doris Carver. Carver agreed to meet with Ladwig on Aug. 26, but later said in an e-mail she would be out of the office and the new dean would handle Ladwig’s case.”When my appointment as dean ended, I turned the student file over to the new dean without making or recommending a decision on the new appeal,” Carver told The Daily Reveille in an e-mail. William Worger was appointed the new dean of the Graduate School on Sept. 1. Worger said he received Ladwig’s case and made a decision after he received all the evidence. If Ladwig does not receive a retroactive medical withdrawal from the University, she said she will pursue a legal case.
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Former student makes last appeal to University
October 14, 2008