Ryerson University student Chris Avenir is suing Ryerson in a $10 million dollar class action lawsuit for not allowing him to be represented by a lawyer at a hearing he was called to for sharing work online.
In 2008, Avenir was charged with organizing and using a Facebook study group called Dungeons/Mastering Chemistry Solution that allowed students to post answers to homework problems.
"If this kind of help is cheating, then so is tutoring and all the mentoring programs the university runs and the discussions we do in tutorials,” Avenir told the Toronto Star.
According to the Star, Avenir was not allowed to have a lawyer with him during his hearing – he was only permitted a student union advocate.
“Since this case is now before the courts I am not in a position to comment on the specifics of it,” said Julia Hanisberg, Ryerson’s general counsel “What I can tell you is that we are confident in Ryerson’s academic integrity policies and procedures and we know that they are fair. Ryerson will vigorously defend the suit.”
Avenir is now asking for $10 million and $250,000 in punitive damages.
“Everyone’s thinking it’s just kind of a cheap shot at Ryerson for damages,” Avenir said to Ryerson’s student paper the Eyeopener. “But that’s not the main issue here.”