A dissatisfied student who was expelled for criticizing his private career college in front of prospective students will get his tuition returned, along with court costs and the maximum allowable damages, after winning his case in a small-claims court in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “Expulsion of a student is a form of educational capital punishment,” wrote the adjudicator in the decision, according to The Chronicle-Herald. The Centre for Arts and Technology, in Halifax, had kicked out Trevor Power for breaching a policy that barred students from making negative comments about the institution. The court ruled that the expulsion was unjust because students weren’t given any information about the policy, and because it was not part of the contract that they signed upon enrollment.
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3 Responses to Court Orders Canadian College to Refund Expelled Student’s Tuition
aindrias_hiort - March 10, 2010 at 6:59 am
Many people bemoan the civil court system in the U.S., but this is an example of why it works. They don’t have punitive damages in Canada (de facto perhaps, but not de jure), because they consider punative damages excessive and unusual. The Centre for Arts and Technology merely had to refund the student’s money, not pay any damages for immoral/unethical behaviour. Therefore, this kind of ugly policy is almost never punished. Since they are not punished, the school will not change it’s policy, and this will happen again.
esselan - March 10, 2010 at 11:17 am
Why would any student go to a college with such a policy?
jesor - March 10, 2010 at 11:46 am
Same reason why they would go to an unaccredited US school. Someone gave them a good song and dance about career opportunities and they didn’t know better. Apparently US secondary schools aren’t the only ones that have trouble teaching critical thinking.