How have courts treated evidence that a student was treated radically different than others in a similar situation?

" Evidence that (a student) was treated radically different than others in a like situation" may be relevant to a claim that a university acted arbitrarily or in bad faith. (See Greenhill v. Bailey (S.D.Iowa 1974) 378 F.Supp. 632, 636, rev. on other grounds (8th Cir. 1975) 519 F.2d 5.) But such evidence is not conclusive of the issue. The student must also show that the difference in treatment in his case was the result of an arbitrary or bad faith decision by the institution. The trial court did not find that Golden Gate's decision to academically disqualify Paulsen at the end of this third year was in any way improper. It did find that the university allowed four other students to return for an additional year without a no-degree condition, and in due course awarded two of them degrees. But such students were not in fact similarly situated to Paulsen. Only he among the fourth-year students had "flunked out" at the end of the normal course of study; and the two who eventually graduated were permitted to continue in the degree program because their earlier deficiencies were due to personal factors unrelated to their academic capability (e. g., serious illness).

The imposition of reasonable conditions on the readmission of academically disqualified students was apparently a regular

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