Dental student receives $1m settlement
A former dental student has received a $1million settlement after she claimed she was illegally expelled from a university.
Alissa Zwick was in the third year of her dentistry degree at the University of Michigan during 2005 when she was expelled for not performing well in classes.
However, Ms Zwick, who has attention-deficit disorder, said that she was kicked-out because of a feud between Dr Marilyn Lantz, chief academic officer at the dental school, and other members of the faculty who disagreed on how to accommodate her disorder in exams.
She all claimed that her average grade was a B and that Dr Lantz had tried to blame her for two professors having to leave the university.
In 2008, a federal court awarded Ms Zwick $1.7million as it agreed her rights had been violated.
However, the university was appealing the award when it stuck a $1million deal with Ms Zwick, 31.
She will received $673,262.45 of the award and Deborah Gordon, her lawyer, will receive the rest.
It is thought that Ms Zwick settled for the deal as the court could have ruled for the faculty in the appeal, leaving her nothing.
She has now given up dentistry and is studying at Eastern Michigan University for a masters in speech pathology.
Join this Discussion
