5 Who Took Bar Exam Won’t Be Penalized for Aiding Ill Student

In an apparent change of heart, California State Bar officials said Tuesday that five law students who stopped taking the bar exam in Pasadena recently to help an ill test-taker will not get a grade on their disrupted essay--unless the mark helps their overall score.

If the disrupted essay is thrown out, officials said, the Bar will decide to pass or fail the students based on other portions of the three-day exam.

After the Feb. 23 incident, officials said that the students would get no special consideration and that they could appeal their scores to the Committee of Bar Examiners after final grades were posted May 28. Three days later, Bar officials assured students that the 20-minute disruption would be taken into consideration in the grading.

The latest word, however, is that the five students’ grades on the disrupted essay may not count at all and, in fact, all 500 students tested that day could have their scores adjusted, pending an independent experts’ review of the incident.

The announcements followed national media coverage of the five students who were denied extra time to finish the essay after helping a student who was suffering an epileptic seizure. John Leslie, a former lifeguard who helped administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation, made an appearance on “The Tonight Show” to talk about the incident. The other students who offered help--Julio De Jesus, Eunice Morgan, Yancy Miller and Cynthia Vinales--also received media attention.

The State Bar’s Board of Governors last week honored the five students with certificates of appreciation for their efforts.

“The Board of Governors (recognition), that seemed to be genuine, but I’m sure all the press coverage had something to do with it,” Morgan, a registered nurse in her 40s, said of the developments.

In a March 10 story, the Daily Journal, a legal newspaper, said the bar summoned a “crisis team” of senior executives to deal with the public relations problem. The article said that the Bar has come under fire from members for its callousness.

A Bar spokeswoman said the media exposure had nothing to do with the decision to honor the students, or to offer to adjust their scores. The board commonly honors people for good deeds, said Judy Johnson, chairwoman of the board’s Committee on Admissions and Competence. Johnson said the board routinely considers adjusting test scores if there is a disruption during the exam, such as an earthquake or power outage.