Student sues UNE after her major is canceled

BIDDEFORD – A University of New England senior has sued the college for eliminating her major and is seeking reimbursement of her $16,000 tuition and an apology.

In a case believed to be one of the first of its kind nationally, Tina Ruggles, 25, alleges the university allowed her to enroll in its Global Studies program without warning her it was dropping the major.

“We’re not out for any kind of blood,” said her attorney, Bradford Pattershall, who filed the lawsuit in York County Superior Court last week, “just for them to acknowledge they did something wrong.”

University officials said all students received fair warning before the program was canceled.

Ruggles, a graduate of Old Orchard Beach High School, enrolled in 1994 at Clark University in Massachusetts, where she majored in history. She dropped out after 18 months, worked some jobs in Maine and explored returning to school. After hearing through a friend about the Global Studies program, she decided to enroll in it.

“I thought it sounded like a really interesting program that offered some travel at no additional cost, which sounded great to me,” she said Wednesday.

But when she showed up to register in September 2000, she found only a few classes that were listed as required courses for Global Studies, according to the lawsuit.

Ruggles became suspicious but said professors told her adjustments could be made. She said she then failed to get assurances from the school that she would be able to travel, as she had been led to believe, so she switched her major to history.

“The more I thought about what happened, the more frustrated I would get,” she said.

Steve Price, UNE spokesman, acknowledged that the Global Studies program was discontinued last fall because of a lack of enrollment. He said there were fewer than five students in the program.

“All students were notified of the discontinuation of the program,” Price said.

Pattershall contends the case is one of false advertising because the university promoted its Global Studies program but never indicated it was in danger of being eliminated due to a shortage of students.

A spokeswoman for the Council of Independent Colleges said she could recall no other such lawsuit.

“That’s really pretty rare,” said Laura Wilcox, communications director for the Washington-based organization. “It’s not a common occurrence.”