My question involves education law in the State of: Illinois
I apologize in advance for the length of my post but it is a complicated situation. I finished my MBA requirements in May 2011 but the school is denying me my formal degree and I am not sure why. I feel that it was because I was a squeaky wheel with the program. I complained to the MBA program twice during my two years in the program. The first involved a dispute with a professor. The professor in question was a hypocrite and played favoritism in class and with grading. For instance, the professor was frequently late to class by 20+ minutes because of traffic but would fail students on their assignments if they showed up to class one minute late (on the days that he decided to get to class on time). I just reported the issues that I had with the professor, using examples, to the program itself. My second claim was with career services department. As a MBA student, I was required to talk with a career counselor on a regular basis. The career services department was very condescending to me and provided me with poor advice that was contradicted by outside professionals and recruiters. I pointed out to the department that the service provided by the department was more geared toward undergraduates than graduate students with work experience.
As a result of my dispute with the graduate school, I thought that it was best that I spent my last semester of the graduate school abroad. The MBA program offered a few study abroad programs to students and I felt that it was best to put some distance between the school and me. Plus, I had always wanted to study abroad at the time. The one caveat was that mainly undergrads study abroad and the other students going abroad were all undergrads. However, the business schools in Europe are generally masters programs, so the program was improved. I was a bit concerned about the issue and asked about it. I was told that this wasn't any issue and all my classes were approved by the graduate dean. I was naive about the situation, but I obviously saved the signed documentation. I was expecting to graduate in August, not May due to this situation.
Fast forward to July of this year, my grades arrive from the study abroad university and the study abroad office says that I received the credits necessary to graduate. I ask if there was anything that I needed to do and filled out my paperwork. However, due to vacation and personal issues in the MBA department, the necessary paperwork wasn't filed by the department until July 25th. The degree petition was denied because the paperwork needed to be filed on July 22nd. I was told that I needed to appeal and personally explain the situation, which I did. I was told that the administration just needed to see personal initiative from the students in the situation.
After I filed my appeal, the MBA program stopped answering my emails about the situation and ignored my requests for follow-up. I think that they were never planning to give me my degree and were just hoping that I'd go away. I finally got an answer when I told them straight what I thought was happening rather than tap dancing around the situation. I was denied graduation again and was told that I could apply for graduation again in December because of the paperwork snafu. After getting denied again, I learned that they were required to give me a straight answer under FERPA. I didn't know that at the time and think that was the only reason why I was given a straight answer. I've been emailing and calling daily about the situation and have been referred to different people again and again. I think the real reason might be retaliation for expressing my concerns about the program. My fear is that the classes that I took overseas will suddenly become unacceptable in December. I think that they are trying to wear me down and hope that I won't appeal.
My questions are - does the department have the right to deny me my degree when I've completed the degree requirements? Also, do I have any recourse with the school about the situation? I am requesting a letter stating that I am guaranteed to graduate in December; this is so that I can initiate legal action if denied again. I'd also like a note put in my file stating that I fulfilled my degree requirements in May and the hold up in my degree conferral is due to a paperwork snafu in the department. I'm concerned that the school won't give me letters without caveats to protect them from lawsuits and fully exploit the loopholes come December.
The snafu has already cost me two professional opportunities. I put August on my application because I was led to believe that this was when my degree would be conferred and was accused of lying about my credentials on job interviews. It was an honest miscommunication, but the employers didn't care. I am currently working at a temp job for less than I was making before I went to grad. school because there is a two year hole in my resume.

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