IS IT AGE DISCRIMINATION NOT TO ACCOUNT FOR GRADE INFLATION?

A 3.2 grade point average is not what it used to be.

That’s what a Baylor University law school applicant, Michael Kamps, is arguing in a lawsuit against the university, which alleges that by neglecting to account for grade inflation when evaluating applicants’ undergraduate G.P.A.s, the admissions committee did not give Kamps the same chance at admission as it did younger applicants.

In the age discrimination suit, he claims that the 3.2 G.P.A. he earned in 1979 from Texas A&M University is equivalent to a 3.6 G.P.A. today because of grade inflation — a phenomenon that has been plaguing colleges in the past few decades. Kamps said he doesn’t think a legal challenge of this type has been brought in court before.

Kamps said he wants the court to look into the effects of grade inflation, and to rule that G.P.A. is not a valid evaluation standard when significant age differences are present among applicants.

“We have a biased set of standards that is being used to disqualify older applicants,” he said. “That’s not lawful.”

Interesting point.