Story Archive

If Only He Put This Much Effort Into the Assignment

Chinmay Naik, 23, a journalism student at Monash University in Melbourne, Vic., Australia, was given an assignment to create a video story. He chose to report on the “perceptions” of various dog breeds — the “negative stereotypes around certain kinds of dogs, such as greyhounds,” he said. Naik failed the assignment, and appealed the grade to the university’s Ombudsman, and the Human Rights Commission, both of which ruled against him. He has taken the case to Victoria’s Supreme Court, representing himself, asking that the judge strike his grade and declare he passed the class. “The time that they provided was not at all reasonable given the magnitude of the task,” he complained. “My preliminary view is that the most I would be able to order is for the university to re assess the video essay,” a perplexed Justice Melinda Richards said from the bench. She has not yet ruled on the case. (RC/Australian AP) ...After she throws it out, she’ll next have to rule on his case against the media for making him look like an obliviot by reporting the facts of this case.