Union College is attempting to expel the student who sued them for alleged disability discrimination for violating the Honor Code. The student, who filed the lawsuit under the pseudonym John Doe, was found guilty of cheating on an exam in a disciplinary hearing in 2018, after which the school determined that he should be expelled, according to public documents. In November of 2018, a court order reinstated John Doe as a student. In August of this year, the College asked the court to lift that order.

Doe was accused of cheating on an exam in Math 130 Ordinary Differential Equations. Professor Jeffrey Hatley, who taught the course, observed that Doe’s scratch work on six of the eight problems showed signs of cheating. In three problems, Doe’s work did not make sense for the questions being asked; in addition to this, Doe’s work appeared to mimic that of the students in the exam room with him, according to Hatley. The disciplinary board agreed with this conclusion, according to the letter sent to Doe informing him of the outcome of this hearing. Doe responded by saying that he was concussed at the time of the exam, which would explain the “incoherent” nature of his work.

Doe took his exam in a room meant to accommodate students with disabilities; Hatley was not present during the exam. Two students in the room with Doe attested that it would have been impossible for Doe to cheat during the exam, because he was not “within the line of sight” of the other students in the room, according to a documents submitted in public records by Doe’s attorneys.

This was the third accusation of cheating levied against Doe during his time at Union.

Doe claims that the disciplinary hearing and the subsequent punishment was an act of retaliation performed against him, because of his requests for accommodations. The Concordiensis obtained John Doe’s legal name through public records, but is choosing not to publish it, because of concerns for his mental health. Doe’s attorney, Scott Iseman, stated that the stress of the disciplinary hearing and the lawsuit have caused Doe to become suicidal.