Student sues over credit disparity

Next June, Karim Annabi will graduate with a master's degree from NYU's Stern School of Business. In July, he will face the college's lawyers in court.

Annabi, 28, claims NYU forced him to take a class he never should have been required to take. His dispute with NYU began last fall, while he was simultaneously studying at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Saudi Arabia and taking classes through Stern's Langone Part-time MBA Program.

In October, Annabi asked for and received permission from his Stern academic adviser to treat two courses at KFUPM as Stern electives. He later decided to drop one of the courses and instead pursued the transfer of three credits for a managerial finance class.

In November, Annabi began looking into applying to a dual-degree MBA program offered by Stern and École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris (aka HEC Paris). He realized that one of the program's required classes, corporate finance, was nearly identical to the managerial finance class he was already taking as a transfer elective for his Stern degree.

No Langone student had ever participated in the program before, but in December, Annabi received special permission to do so from Stern's MBA Academic Review Committee, which reviews petitions in unusual circumstances. As part of his preparation for entering the dual-degree program, Annabi said he spoke with Anne Cutler, his Stern adviser and associate director of the Langone Program, to ensure that the managerial finance transfer credits would fulfill his corporate finance requirement.

"She said that if it's the same class, there's no reason it shouldn't count," Annabi said.

But in court documents, Kyle Cunningham, Stern's director of MBA Academic Affairs, maintained that Stern informed Annabi that all dual-degree students are required to take 30 non-transfer credits at Stern. He stated in his affidavit, "I have no basis to believe that any representative of Stern has ever told Annabi otherwise." Cunningham declined to comment for this article, and attempts to contact Cutler were unsuccessful.

Annabi returned to Stern for the spring 2009 semester, convinced he would complete his Stern requirements by the end of the summer term.

At the time, his transcript showed that the three credits from KFUPM had transferred as corporate finance under his Langone core requirements.

Annabi first became aware that there was a problem in a May 8, 2009 letter from Stern, in which he was told that those three credits would not count toward his degree. He was surprised; in an e-mail exchange with Annabi between April 30 and May 4, Cutler referred to "processing your Corporate Finance substitution," and repeatedly mentioned that he had 1.5 credits remaining — not the 4.5 that would remain if the three corporate finance credits had not been transferred. See Annabi's updated transcript.

Annabi appealed to the Academic Review Committee, Vice Dean of MBA Programs Kim Corfman, Stern dean Thomas Cooley and finally to NYU President John Sexton. No appeal was successful. See a note allegedly from dean Cooley to Annabi regarding his credits.

His appeals exhausted, Annabi sued the school on June 12 this year in New York State Supreme Court. Annabi sought an injunction to prevent NYU from requiring him to take the corporate finance course during the summer. He sought approximately $25,000 in punitive damages, but a judge dismissed the case because Annabi had failed to properly serve Stern officials with a court summons; Annabi represented himself in the case.

According to Annabi, Cunningham admitted in a meeting held after the lawsuit was filed that Stern had made a mistake in approving the transfer of managerial finance as corporate finance.

"He said, 'We made a mistake, but you should just let it go,' " Annabi said.

Sometime after April 30, Stern officials updated Annabi's transcript, removing the corporate finance substitution. Annabi claims this is evidence Stern is attempting to cover its mistakes.

NYU spokesman John Beckman dismissed Annabi's accusations. Beckman said Annabi sued NYU because the university refused to make an exception for him about degree requirements.

"An attempt to sue one's way to a degree is unfair to students who earn their degrees through hard work, study and complying with degree requirements," Beckman said.

But one of Annabi's former advisers called his advisee a "hard worker." Jonathon White was Annabi's undergraduate academic adviser at Stern when Annabi received a bachelor's degree there in 2003.

"I always had positive interactions with him. There were never any major negative issues," White said.

White, who said he is unfamiliar with the specifics of the case, left Stern in 2004 for his current position as assistant dean of students at The New School's Eugene Lang College.

Annabi, realizing that he would need to take corporate finance in August, sued NYU in small claims for $5,000 to recoup expenses for the cost of the class. He also subpoenaed Cunningham, Corfman and Cooley.

A $15 check for transportation to court must be included as part of any subpoena; both Corfman and Cooley cashed the check, though Annabi said neither showed up.

"They had no intention of showing up. And then after the case, they deposit the checks at the NYU Bursar's Office," Annabi said. "It's like they were trying to add insult to injury."

Due to a heavy volume of cases, the court never heard Annabi's case on Aug. 4. The hearing was rescheduled for July 7, 2010, when Annabi returns from his studies at HEC Paris.

Avery Katz, a law professor at Columbia University, said universities can be held responsible for advice given to students, but is surprised this case has gone as far as it has.

"What's really unusual about this situation is that it actually came to a lawsuit, and they didn't manage to handle it within the university," Katz said. "That often happens because someone's being unreasonable."

Annabi said if he wins the small claims case, he won't pursue additional lawsuits.

"I'm not this person who just wants money from NYU," Annabi said. "I don't want a free ride. I just want what I earned."