Court Opinion

ID: 9517176
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 00:07:07.898757+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:43:49.500597
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE BURMAN, dissenting: By its decision today, the majority of this court has ordered the Chicago Medical School to issue a diploma conferring the degree of Doctor of Medicine to plaintiff, even though the faculty of the school for good cause found him unqualified. I believe this decision to be wholly unwarranted. The record reveals the school made a rare and earnest exception to its admissions policy in this case and allowed plaintiff to reenter the institution under an agreed degree program, despite the fact that he had withdrawn from the school 26 years earlier and had not studied medicine since. As stated in the school’s brief, the gist of the complaint was that although plaintiff expressly agreed to the terms of a special candidacy program, he should somehow be judicially relieved of those requirements. Admittedly, the requirements were most stringent and perhaps almost impossible to fulfill. Nevertheless, the majority has imposed an order on the school to issue plaintiff a doctoral degree that has not been earned. I believe this conclusion to be inappropriate both at law and in equity; for universal precedent dictates that it is the function of the learned faculty, and not the court, to determine the qualifications of a student. For the most part, the facts of the instant case are not disputed. Plaintiff was admitted to the Chicago Medical School in 1941. In 1944 the school discovered that he had falsified his medical education history in his application for admission. In fact, the school learned that plaintiff had attended another medical school whose records indicated that he had been dropped for “low scholarship.” Thereafter, the school notified plaintiff of its discovery and asked him to leave. The school records indicate that plaintiff withdrew at his own request in lieu of dismissal for falsification on his admission application. At the time of his withdrawal, the school awarded a Bachelor of Medicine degree to those students who had successfully completed four years of medical school study. It is undisputed that plaintiff had not completed his fourth year of medical school at the time of his withdrawal. Moreover, he was more than one full academic year away from eligibility for a Doctor of Medicine degree. Had plaintiff been asked unjustly to leave the school in 1944, he could have then brought an action for a mandatory injunction to compel the school to issue the degree of Doctor of Medicine to him. He did not do so, obviously because he knew that he had not earned the degree. His attempts to be readmitted in 1947 and 1948 also were rejected, yet he filed no suit. Thereafter, plaintiff intermittently tried without success to be readmitted, but he filed no action. It was not until 1970, when a new board of trustees controlled the school, that plaintiff gained entry. When plaintiff applied for admission in 1970, the school necessarily faced the questions of whether he should be admitted and under what circumstances. Clearly the situation was unique. While plaintiff had completed many of the requirements of a 1940’s medical degree, he had not pursued any medical studies for over 25 years. The faculty admissions committee thoroughly discussed the matter, and eventually designed a special candidacy program which would grant plaintiff a fair opportunity to pursue his degree without diluting the integrity of the degree itself. The program required among other things that plaintiff pass Parts I and II of the National Medical Board Examination and that he complete at least one year of clinical training in the form of a clerkship. The record establishes that the school clearly, repeatedly and fully described the program to plaintiff and that he knowingly accepted its terms. At the time the program was presented to him, plaintiff did not commence an action claiming the requirements to be unfair. Nor did he bring a suit challenging the school’s right to impose said requirements. Rather, plaintiff agreed to be accepted as a “special student” and started his academic course pursuant to that program. Plaintiff failed his first clerkship in 1971 since his professional knowledge and judgment were rated as “poor.” Nevertheless the school permitted him to continue his studies and he subsequently passed the course. In 1971 plaintiff also failed Part I of the National Boards. The school, however, granted him permission to retake Part I in September of 1973 and to take Part II one year later. Plaintiff never retook Part I of the Boards, nor did he ever attempt to pass Part H. Instead he filed the instant action in September of 1973. Much is made by the majority about plaintiff’s numerous and generous contributions to the school. If this be the source of the majority’s dissatisfaction, I cannot share it. No contention is made that plaintiff was promised a degree if he made contributions. The contrary is true. The school futilely offered him assistance to prepare for the Boards, but he rejected any such help. He has not fulfilled the degree requirements under his special contract with the school, and as such is precluded from claiming the Doctor of Medicine degree. The trial court erred in not dismissing the complaint. The ability of schools and students to make mutually binding agreements in special situations has rarely been questioned and never judicially doubted. The case of Anthony v. Syracuse University (1928), 224 App. Div. 487, 231 N.Y.S. 435, is directly in point. In Anthony the plaintiff signed a special agreement upon her entrance to the defendant university in which the defendant reserved the right to dismiss the plaintiff at any time. When plaintiff was dismissed pursuant to that agreement, she sued, claiming that the school could not invoke a special agreement. In reversing the lower court and dismissing the complaint, the appellate court stated: “The University need not accept as a student one desiring to become such. It may, therefore, limit the effect of such acceptance by express agreement * * * .” 224 App. Div. 487, 490-91, 231 N.Y.S. 435, 439. The courts are not learned in medical science. Thus, they are no more able to pass upon the qualifications of a medical student than is a doctor of medicine able to evaluate the capabilities of a law student. The inescapable conclusion is that a medical school must be the final judge in determining which students have earned the high degree of Doctor of Medicine. People ex rel. Pacella v. Bennett Medical College, 205 Ill. App. 324 (abstract opinion). As I have indicated above, the 1970 agreement between plaintiff and the school is binding, and the court should not interfere with its terms. Nor can they circumvent its provisions under the pretense that the 1941 school bulletin is controlling. Certainly, any rights plaintiff may have had in 1944 have been lost during the 30-year interim. In no case cited by the plaintiff has the court awarded equitable relief under even remotely similar circumstances. Plaintiff makes no claim of fraud or duress. Nor does he assert that the terms of the special agreement were ambiguous or misunderstood. By requiring plaintiff to pass the National Boards, the school asked only that he demonstrate current' medical knowledge commensurate with the distinguished degree he sought. That he somehow should be excused from this or other academic requirements is meritless. In conclusion, I would note that the majority has conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine upon an individual who, when taking Part I of the National Boards, tallied 50 points on an exam which required 350 to pass. For these reasons I must respectfully dissent and defer to the judgment of the school.