WINNIPEG – A judge has ruled that a University of Manitoba math professor has no standing to challenge the awarding of a PhD to a student who failed an exam.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Deborah McCawley said Gabor Lukacs has no right as a private citizen to challenge the decision of those who awarded the degree, even though Lukacs says the student hadn’t met all the requirements by failing the test.
“He did not teach the student in question, he was only laterally a member of the committee, he himself does not hold a degree from the University of Manitoba nor does he represent in any official capacity anyone but himself,” the judge wrote in a decision released this week.
As for standing to challenge the matter in the public interest, McCawley said the courts have been loathe to interfere with the absolute right of universities to decide who merits their degrees and who does not.
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“The cases are clear the conferring of academic degrees is private in nature and generally the courts should exercise restraint.”
The student, who twice failed a comprehensive exam that is a requirement before receiving a PhD, claimed to suffer extreme examination anxiety. The university maintained it was legally required to accommodate the student’s disability and argued Lukacs had no right to intervene because he was not directly affected by the decision.
Lukacs was suspended by the university and evicted from his office over the dispute, although he has since returned to teaching. He has filed a grievance with the Manitoba Labour Board over his suspension and a hearing that began in June is set to resume next month then he’s expected to testify.
He said he was disappointed that his challenge of the decision to grant the degree was dismissed on what he described as a technicality.
“The court held that professors cannot challenge the academic decisions of their universities, but the court never considered the question of whether the decisions made by the University of Manitoba in the present case were correct,” he wrote in an email.
Lukacs, who hasn’t hit 30 yet and started working on his own PhD at the age of 16, has fared much better in his fights to improve the rights of airline passengers whose luggage is lost or damaged.
Earlier this month the Canadian Transportation Agency declared Air Canada’s international baggage liability rule unreasonable and ordered the airline to replace it. The policy said Air Canada couldn’t be held liable for valuables such as money and jewelry in passengers’ checked baggage on certain itineraries.
He scored an earlier victory against WestJet and this year the Federal Court of Appeal rejected WestJet’s attempted challenge of the agency’s decision. After Lukacs complained, the transportation agency ruled the airline’s $250 limit for luggage compensation was
too low and ordered it raised to $1,800, the amount dictated by the relevant international regulation.
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