Professor Sues to Have Failing Grade Restored : Education: Saddleback college district officials illegally changed it to a passing mark, he claims. They say he acted in ‘bad faith’ against the student.

SANTA ANA —  In a test of academic standards, a veteran Irvine Valley College writing professor urged a Superior Court commissioner Wednesday to reinstate a failing course grade he gave a student in 1991.

Hugh W. Glenn, who has taught writing at Irvine Valley College for 13 years, sued Saddleback Community College District officials last year over their decision to change, without his permission, the student’s course grade from a failing “D” to a passing “C.”

In the lawsuit, Glenn claims the district violated the California Education Code by changing the grade, which he gave a student who turned in a term paper that Glenn did not consider “acceptable.” Except in cases where there is evidence of “mistake, fraud, bad faith or incompetency,” the state code grants instructors the ultimate authority to determine final grades.

College officials say Glenn acted in “bad faith” when determining the student’s grade, and say the change was legal. Under a district board policy, “bad faith” may be found “in an instance of an intent to deceive, in an act of dishonesty.”

Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk took the case under consideration and will issue a final ruling later.

But in a tentative observation offered at the beginning of the hearing, Palk said she was leaning toward Glenn’s right to grant the student whatever grade he deemed proper.

“If this passes as an acceptable (college) paper, we’re in trouble. This read like something from an eighth-grader,” Palk said, referring to the 12-page term paper, titled “Early Egyptian History,” that was submitted by the student.

The student’s grammatical usage in the paper, however, should not be considered the main issue in the case, said attorney Spencer Covert, representing the Saddleback Community College District.

The district’s Board of Trustees, Chancellor Richard Sneed and Glenn’s immediate supervisor, Irvine Valley College School of Humanities official Peter Morrison, are also named in the lawsuit.

Covert said Glenn used inconsistent grading standards after telling the student she needed to make certain corrections in the paper, which he highlighted, before he would deem it acceptable. “What was said is, ‘You need to make the corrections,’ ” Covert said. “That’s exactly what the student did.”

By judging the paper unacceptable after the student made the various corrections in the course of three different revisions, Covert said Glenn “broke a promise.”

Glenn denied there was any dishonesty involved in his grading decision, and said the student failed to make enough of the required corrections.