Fairfield University professor sues student, administration over failing grade
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court, seeks an order prohibiting school officials from altering the grade she gave the student and unspecified money damages.
McEvoy’s lawyer, Daniel Kryzanski, of Stratford, said neither he nor his client had any comment on the lawsuit.
McEvoy is a tenured professor and has been teaching at Fairfield University since 1986, according to the suit.
The lawsuit states that in the Spring of 2020, Joseph Moran, of New Jersey, was enrolled in McEvoy’s legal environment of business class. Because of the pandemic the final exam for the class, which accounted for 100 percent of the students’ grade in the class, was done remotely, the suit states. In McEvoy’s instructions for taking the exam, she specifically required that the exam had to be mailed by USPS. McEvoy provided the prepaid envelope and paid for tracking, the suit states.
The exam package was sent to all of the students on May 28, 2020, the suit states. The instructions required that the exam be mailed to McEvoy’s home address to arrive no later than June 12, 2020.
The instructions stated in part; “No late papers will be accepted. If it is not received on or before the above date, you will receive a zero for the exam.”
The lawsuit continues that Moran mailed his exam to McEvoy on June 8, 2020 but failed to track delivery of the exam. McEvoy did not receive the exam until June 16 and she gave Moran a failing grade.
