Shah v. Univ. of Tex. Sw. Med. Sch. (Summary)

DISCRIMINATION – NATIONAL ORIGIN AND DISABILITY

Shah v. Univ. of Tex. Sw. Med. Sch., No. 3:13-CV-4834-D (N.D. Tex. Oct. 20, 2014)

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas dismissed a medical school student’s Rehabilitation Act and Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) claims against a university, holding that the Eleventh Amendment provides immunity to the university and its named faculty members. Plaintiff, a medical student of Indian decent with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (“ADHD”), was dismissed from defendant, a state university affiliated medical school, after receiving three reprimands for professionalism violations and having received failing grades on more than one clinical rotation. The student appealed the dismissal, asserting that the alleged professionalism violations were a direct result of his ethnicity and his ADHD, which constituted a disability. The medical school denied the appeal, and the student sued the medical school and several named faculty members and other administrative representatives. The university sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that it was immune from the suit under the Eleventh Amendment.

The court held that the medical school, as an arm of the state, was immune under the Eleventh Amendment as it had not violated any of the student’s constitutional rights. The court explained that the student’s due process rights were not violated because when it comes to academic dismissals, the student was only entitled to notice that the medical school was dissatisfied with his progress and it could lead to dismissal. Furthermore, the court explained that there is no substantive due process right to continued education, and, even if there was, the student failed to show that the university’s actions were a “substantial departure from accepted academic norms.”