Monash University student Chinmay Naik’s case over failed dog assignment dismissed
A SUPREME Court judge has urged a Masters student to “move on” after she dismissed his legal action against Monash University for failing his dog assignment.
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A SUPREME Court judge has urged a Masters student to “move on” after she dismissed his legal action against Monash University for failing his dog assignment.
Chinmay Naik, 23, had called on the court to strike out his fail grade of 12 out of 100 and award him an overall pass for a video journalism project exploring negative stereotypes of different breeds of dog.
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He argued Monash University had acted unlawfully in its double marking of his project, which also returned a fail of 21 out of 100 the second time it was graded.
Supreme Court Judge Melinda Richards said she found no arguable case against the university, which failed Mr Naik’s assignment after granting him a 19 day extension.
Justice Richards encouraged Mr Naik to “move on” from his fail grade, which he received on June 26, 2017, or to seek legal counsel if he continued in his bid against the university.
“I understand you will be disappointed by this outcome and I expect as you have done before you will consider what other options remain open to you,” Justice Richards said.
“It’s not the end of the world, plenty of people fail a subject and go on to have successful and rewarding careers.”
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Justice Richards also encouraged Mr Naik to consider taking up another unit of study to pass his Masters of Journalism degree, and to discuss that with his doctor.
According to the judgement, Justice Richards agreed with the university that the court didn’t have jurisdiction relating to markings of assignments or “otherwise determining questions of academic merit”.
“These matters are solely for the University — areas for academic judgment where the Court will not intrude”.
However, Justice Richards did agree with Mr Naik that there was an “arguable case that the University did not follow its relevant policies in double marking” given the lack of documentation and mystery to the identity of the second marker.
Though, Justice Richards found that did not amount to a jurisdictional error that invalidates the decision.
Costs were awarded against Mr Naik, to be paid on a standard basis, despite him telling the court he was “not in a position to pay any costs, Your Honour”.
But Justice Richards replied that “unfortunately for you, capacity to pay is not really a consideration in paying costs”.
The Oakleigh South man had applied to the court on the ground of financial hardship, and represented himself in the case.
The international student is enrolled at the university until June next year, and living in Australia on a student visa.
Court documents show Mr Naik argued he was “deserving of a minimum pass grade” for the assignment, which featured interviews with dog owners walking their pets at the park about greyhound adoption, guide dog discrimination and public access.
In the initial marking of the assignment, comments by the assessor stated it featured three vox pops asking people “very general and unconnected questions surrounding dogs”.
“No narrative structure, one shot of overlay, no expert interviews, no clear beginning/middle/end,” the comments state.
“For what is supposed to be the major assignment of the unit, this fails to meet any of the minimum criteria.”
Mr Naik told the Herald Sun he would persist with a hearing relating to the matter in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, but said he was otherwise “not available for comment”.
A Monash University spokesman said: “Monash University respects the decision of the Supreme Court in this matter.”
Mr Naik had earlier appealed to the office of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the Ombudsman, Information Commissioner and Australian Human Rights Commission.
All rejected his bid.
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