by Randy Cassingham

Mark Edmonson, 18, was doing pretty well at Northwest Guilford High
School in Greensboro, N.C. Early in his senior year, he had a 3.8
grade-
point average, scored a perfect 1,600 on his Scholastic Achievement
Test,
was a National Merit finalist and, outside school, had incorporated his
own Internet company. Combined, that made him a shoe-in at the college
of
his choice, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

UNC sent him a letter of acceptance in April, 2003. However, the
letter warned, "your enrollment will depend upon your successful
completion of your current academic year." Further, it said, "We expect
you to continue to achieve at the same level that enabled us to provide
this offer of admission; we also expect you to graduate on time."

Edmonson graduated on time, but that's about all -- in his final
semester he earned only C and D grades, and failed one class entirely,
crashing his overall GPA to 3.5. Not surprisingly, UNC was unhappy, but
rather than rescinding Edmonson's admission it "temporarily suspended"
it
and asked him to come in for an interview to discuss the matter.
Apparently unsatisfied with the answers, after the interview UNC did
rescind Edmonson's acceptance, though it suggest he might consider
"transferring to Carolina after you have established a record of
success
at another college or university."

But Edmonson only wanted to go to UNC. Once he got their April
acceptance he not only slacked off in high school, he didn't bother to
apply anywhere else. "If they say he can't come, I don't know what
we'll
do," said his mother, Barbara. "We're kind of stuck."

Edmonson wasn't satisfied with "stuck": he called Marshall Hurley, an
attorney. In a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court in
Hillsborough, Hurley argues the university's admission letter was a
binding contract both parties agreed to. Thus UNC's rescinding the
offer
is an unjustified "breach of contract". It asks the court to order UNC
to
allow him to start classes immediately.

The suit claims the university didn't give Edmonson a chance to
explain what happened in his in-person interview, but admissions
director
Herb Davis differs. "He looked at his transcript and responded to my
question of what happened to him with philosophical quotes but nothing
directly related to my questions," Davis wrote in a formal affidavit in
response to the suit.

Attorney Hurley sees it differently: "I frankly think that his 1,600
[SAT] score was being held against him, that even with his lofty score,
they can teach him a lesson," he said. "I just think there's some
arrogance going on here, some bureaucratic arrogance."

Beyond the rather laughable claim that an institution of higher
learning would hold academic achievement against a student, would
Hurley
also consider it "arrogance" to accept the terms of a "contract" and
then
fail to live up to them? The acceptance letter made it clear what his
client had to do to be admitted to UNC -- the "terms" of the so-called
"contract" -- but he didn't do it. If there's a "breach of contract"
here, Edmonson is the one who breached it. By failing to have any sort
of
back-up plan to implement as he saw his grades slipping, and by putting
all his energy into a lawsuit rather than applying at other schools,
Edmonson only proved one thing: he's not the sort of scholar a
university
like UNC allows into its halls.

Apparently Edmonson's case wasn't strong enough for an injunction --
the judge refused to grant a court order forcing the school to admit
him.
However, the judge didn't throw out the suit, so it will be heard in
due
time. Meanwhile, Edmonson won't be going to school, he mother says.
"The
general feeling is just so negative that I'm not sure what he can do or
where he can go," she said. "I can't imagine any admissions person in
the
area, at N.C. State or Duke or anywhere, even looking at him." He'll
never know unless he tries, but it looks like Edmonson gave up long
ago.
And isn't that the entire problem?


SOURCES:

1) "UNC Admission Rescission Sparks Suit", Durham Herald-Sun, 19 August
2003.
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect3.pl?39a

2) "Rejected Student Ponders Future", Durham Herald-Sun, 22 August 2003
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect3.pl?39b

"Saudi Takes Four Wives in One Night to Spite His Ex"}
-- AFP headline
gefunden auf http://www.thisistrue.com/

Librarians are protesting a new "action figure" being released by Archie McPhee and Co. of Seattle, Wash. The $8.95 doll, complete with "amazing push-button shushing action!", is "a lovely idea
and a lovely tribute to my chosen profession," says librarian Nancy
Pearl, 58, whom the doll is modeled after. But other librarians don't like it one bit. "The shushing thing just put me right over the
edge," says Diane DuBois of the Caribou (Me.) Public Library. "It's so stereotypical I could scream." (AP) ...Hey! What part of "shush"
don't you understand?
gefunden auf http://www.thisistrue.com/

Mayor Stephen P. Laffey of Cranston, R.I., says he did nothing improper when he hired a private detective to make videos of
city employees sleeping on the job. "That's a public building and
there's not a reasonable expectation to privacy there," the mayor
said after being criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union. "There is no civil liberty to sleep on the job." (Providence Journal) ...Well that's certainly going to be a surprise to a lot of people.
gefunden auf http://www.thisistrue.com/

A judge in Beaver County, Penn., has thrown out an appeal of a school expulsion. The appeal, filed by the mother of a 13- year-old girl, argued that the girl should not have been disciplined since school rules don't specifically prohibit girls from performing oral sex on boys on the school bus. She apparently did not dispute that
her daughter committed the offense, which was witnessed by several other students. The 13-year-old boy who was the recipient of her attentions was also expelled. (Beaver County Times) ...But, he says, it was worth it.
gefunden auf http://www.thisistrue.com/

Schools in Rapides Parish, La.,
have a new policy: students may not be drunk or under the influence of illegal drugs at school. The policy was instituted since the old policy only prohibited "possession" of drugs which, argued the parents of a middle school student who sued, did not include drugs inside the body.
Their child had been expelled for testing positive for marijuana. The School Board settled with the parents and instituted the new rule to avoid further lawsuits. (Alexandria Town Talk) ...Yet thanks to "Zero Tolerance" they expel kids for having asthma inhalers.
gefunden auf http://www.thisistrue.com/