The woman, 27-year-old Trina Thompson, claims that the Bronx school has failed to provide her with what it promised her when she first enrolled - help from the Office of Career Advancement to provide her with leads and career advice. Because she hasn't found a job and has claimed to not have received adequate attention from the college, she is requesting that the $70,000 she spent on her information technology degree be returned to her.
A lot of this lawsuit seems to be tied up in what Thompson feels is false advertisement. If you peruse Monroe College's website, you'll see that they promise a "focused, career-oriented, quality education" and state that every student will receive a Career Advisor who will provide them with one-on-one assistance. The site goes on and on to tell them just how they can help them - resume writing, job search strategies, and even boasts that they have an E-recruiting tool where you can find job postings. So Thompson's lawayers are going to have to prove that she was pulled in by a lure of a false promise that wasn't delivered on.
I guess I'm having a hard time thinking how they're going to prove that Thompson didn't receive adequate attention. And if Thompson's lawyers manage to win this case, then is our country (and world) going to go suing mad? Couldn't I just as easily sue my own college for not finding me a job after I graduated?
Personally, I believe that our educations and the services our colleges/universities give us are just tools. We then use these tools to procure employment. Essentially it is up to us to find jobs, but we can choose to utilize places like career centers and people like career advisors to assist us in finding that job. They can't just magically make it happen for us - we have to do the legwork ourselves.
What do you guys think?
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26 comments:
We're already suing mad, its crazy.
And yes - just tools. Some people do great, some fail, some go to grad school. Some do none of the above. The college isn't responsible.
Though some of those technical colleges do make pretty big promises
when i read that yesterday in the paper, i almost died laughing and then was upset by the sense of entitlement. my thoughts, first you graduated in MAY! it is August and we have over a 10% unemployment rate, everyone is having a hard time finding a job. and the career center is there to help you, but you have to have the initiative too, a job just doesn't fall into your lap. i'm sure most people were like me applying for upwards of 60 jobs before we even heard anything. and i hate how american society has become so lawsuit happy, what has happened to us? uuugh
this lawsuit is crazy! there are NO guarantees that you will get a job right out of college and in this economy? nobody is entitled a job. although, like natalie mentioned, some colleges do boldly state that they will find you a job after you have your degree/certificate/whatever.
Oh holy ass crackers. If this woman wins, every fine arts college, especially one with a theatre department, will be instantly bankrupt.
What a load of crap. You're not automatically entitled to a job just because you receive a piece of paper saying you've graduated from a post-secondary educational institution. If you were, I imagine many schools would be up to their eyeballs in lawsuits by now. :)
Career Services is just another tool that students are free to use. I don't believe that advertising a comprehensive Career Services department is a promise of any kind that an actual job will be delivered, but that there will be adequate help in terms of finding job opportunities.
Students make their own decisions, and if someone chooses not to utilize Career Services, obviously the department won't be of any help to that person.
This just seems silly to me.
Hopefully the college had some sort of fine print about how they only offer you the tools (connections, opportunities, education and background) to GET a job, NOT that they will find you a job or give you your money back. College is NOT the same as two weeks eating some yogurt or cereal to lose weight or get regular. And just like that, college isn't just about what comes after... I would hate to think that someone would essentially have rather not gone to college if they didn't get the ideal job upon crossing the stage at graduation.
And lucky for Monroe, if this woman tries to claim that she would have gone to another college (rather than simply not going at all) had she known she would not get a job at the end of it all, the economic climate probably prevents this woman and her lawyers from arguing that other colleges do it and Monroe should have too...
Altogether, two thumbs WAAAAY down. Perhaps this woman could spend more time interviewing, writing cover letters, and distributing resumes and a little less finding lawyers willing to take this case...
there is NO way they will let her win...because then we will ALL get our money back after graduating college and not finding a job! this is ridonkulous!
I think that people are too eager to sue each other - it seems that so many "problems" end up in legal battles because everyone thinks that if something doesn't go their way, well then, sue someone! That's our answer to everything: sue the bastards! Neighbour's dog peed on your lawn? Sue them! Boyfriend of 5 years dumped you? Sue him! Yes...that happened to someone in my family. Can't get a job? Sue your school??? There are so many things wrong with that. Too many. It's just ridiculous.
this is ridiculous! no college gives you a job, you have to work at it yourself...
Our university is most definitely a tool to guide us in our career choice. I wouldn't be suing my college if I didn't have a job. I'm perfectly capable of finding something, and I wouldn't want to put the blame on them for my own struggles.
Every school offers career services... Makes me wonder whether or not she actually put in the effort to get a job and use the services offered to her, or if she's looking for an easy way out. Plus, reality of LIFE- the economy sucks and a lot of ppl with 50 years of experinece aren't finding jobs.
Seems like bad publicity for her too, who's going to hire her now?
If she wins, they should take away her degree; because that is what she is getting a refund on.
Desperate times call for DESPERATE measures! And yes, you get the tools. Then you need to USE them. She's not the only one out of college that can't find a job. All of my interns that graduated are freaking out but I can't help them. If people aren't in the position to hire then a college can't do anything about it. It's sad, but true!
If she wins that chaos that will followe will be out of control. We will have colleges as scared to be sued as doctors are these days. Lord help us all. Hopefully she understands that employers will not be impressed by her sue happy techinques.
I agree with you its not the schools job to find her (or us) a job but to provide us with the tools and knowledge to increase our chances of finding a job. This is crazy!
I agree with you. That is nuts. Totally bonkers.
a) The economy is in the crapper and the job market is equally awful. b) A career center and advisor are there to GUIDE you. There is no GUARANTEE you will find a job right out of college. c) She just graduated in MAY. c) My company that I work for right now is trying their hardest to hire within/switch positions to accomodate openings to on costs associated with new outside hires.
I lucked out with my first job. My internship happened to be hiring for a temporary position (they were transitioning from one hospital to another) that lasted 10 months and I was an easy snag because they would hardly need to train me. I worked for them for the full ten months, was absorbed into the new hospital system, and that was that. Most of my friends spent MONTHS looking for jobs. One friend looked for a YEAR. One of my friends was fired and it took her 4 months and a HUGE move from Florida to Washington DC before she found a half-way decent job.
Not only are we a generation that feels a sense of entitlement, we are also a generation that expects! results! NOW! Not that I'm not the same way, but I definitely think this suit reflects the mindset behind our generation.
Here is an article about it: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1431497/posts. I know there are more out there, but I'd have to have more time to look for this.
A gal in Chicago is being sued by her landlord for a twitter she made about her apartment being moldy. I recieved persistant threats of being sued by a company i reviewed negatively on Yelp, in the amount of $75,000... YES, this country is going mad. Whatever happened to responsibility??? Like, come ON people... stop taking the weasel way out. So cowardly.
I agree with you - college is just a tool, and a stepping stone to a job/profession. After all, there are some people who graduate with degrees who didn't really earn them, but somehow drank their way through their undergrad. years and somehow snagged a diploma.
Sounds like this woman is not independent at all. She needs to wake up and realize that jobs don't just fall into people's laps. Unless you're famous or a child of some elite bastard who gives millions of dollars to univiersities...!
I read this story on yahoo news the other day and it made me spit out my coffee.
I'm still stunned. She graduated in April and is suing because she hasn't found a job yet...um, I have friends who graduated in May '08 who haven't found a job yet. We're in a freaking recession. Plus, it normally takes a college graduate about six months to find a decent job anyway, economy bad or not.
Oh, and college doesn't promise a job, it just prepares you for one.
This girl is totally wasting her time and making herself look like an idiot. Whether she wins the lawsuit or not, I have a good feeling she's going to have an even harder time finding a job now after all this.
Very sensible, WG2, and all you other commenters, too. And to think this woman could be using all the energy she's spending on her lawsuit in her job hunt.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more to this story. Just a hunch....
I believe she had a 2.7 GPA according to an article on cnn forwarded by a co-worker.
I think she failed herself, not her college.
interesting story. that girl is dumb. i agree that education is a tool that we have to use ourselves when the times comes. they gave her advice and help but they dont promise that she will find a job. she has to take care of that when she can. the economy is bad right now. many people cant find work and many companies dont have jobs to give. she cant find a job and needs money so she decides to sue instead.
Ugh. She makes me so angry and I just finished writing a post about this. I currently work in a college career center and last time I checked, it wasn't my job to find jobs for every single graduate!
this reminds me of a hypo we had in law school last fall (womp womp). i doubt this suit will go...anywhere. people like this irritate me to no end. hello, take some responsibility!
She's failed so she wants to point the finger at someone else (and make a ton of money while at it)...what a joke, it's all about ACCOUNTABILITY!!! This lady is going to be not only disappointed when she loses, but HUMILIATED!!
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