SOM student sues Yale, alleges wrongful suspension over AI use

Tim Tai

A student suspended from the School of Management after being accused of using artificial intelligence on a final exam is suing Yale, alleging that the University’s Honor Committee process for academic discipline was mismanaged and discriminatory.

The plaintiff, a French entrepreneur and investor living in Texas, was enrolled in a 22-month program at the School of Management for individuals already in business leadership roles, typically completed through Friday and Saturday classes on alternating weekends. The plaintiff, who filed the case pseudonymously as John Doe, began the program in July 2023 and intended to graduate this spring.

But after being investigated for accused use of generative artificial intelligence on a final exam last spring, the plaintiff was suspended for a year from the School of Management for “not being forthcoming” to the Honor Committee evaluating his disciplinary circumstances. The Honor Committee later determined that the plaintiff had violated the rules of the exam and gave him a failing grade for that class.

“Plaintiff will no longer be able to graduate from his EMBA program with his classmates, nor will he finish in the top of his class as was his trajectory,” the lawsuit claims. “Delaying Plaintiff’s graduation will remove his ability to proudly earn this once-in-a-lifetime distinction.”

The lawsuit argues that the student was discriminated against by his professors and Honor Committee members based on his national origin and “non-native English speaker/writer status.” 

On Friday, Yale objected to the plaintiff’s request to be kept anonymous. Lawyers for the University pointed out that the complaint included “a litany of specific information that identifies Plaintiff through simple Google searches.” Yale’s lawyers also wrote that the plaintiff’s identity would be necessary for an “independent assessment” of the lawsuit’s allegations, as they claimed that the plaintiff was previously accused of misappropriating funds from a nonprofit.  

Final exam flagged for AI in June 2024

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff’s final exam paper in his “Sourcing and Managing Funds” course was flagged and referred to the Honor Committee for “further investigation,” specifically into improper use of AI.

K. Geert Rouwenhorst, the plaintiff’s professor, wrote in his referral letter that a teaching assistant “flagged an exam that appeared unusually long and elaborate in formatting in answering the questions,” according to the lawsuit. Rouwehorst also wrote that three of the essay question answers “scored high on the likelihood of being AI generated using ChatGPTZero” — a free AI detector tool — though he did not run the entire exam through the software.

“Plaintiff is a highly educated and accomplished professional,” the complaint claimed. “It is not ‘unusual’ that his writing on his final exam would be ‘long and elaborate,’ or that it would have ‘near perfect punctuation and grammar.’”

The plaintiff learned of the investigation into his exam the next day from an email by Wendy Tsung, the EMBA program’s assistant dean, informing him that he had an “Incomplete” grade in Rouwenhorst’s course. He then learned from Rouwenhorst that the reason for the grade was that his final exam was flagged for possible AI use.

The plaintiff met with Tsung and then-Dean of Students Sherilyn Scully on July 24, 2024. The lawsuit alleges that at that meeting, Scully “made multiple attempts to coerce Plaintiff into making a false confession of violating the Honor Code” — by asking him whether he used a tool like Grammarly on the exam, consulted with other students or teaching assistants or was confused about the rules for the exam. The student answered no on each occasion, the suit claims.

According to the lawsuit, Scully then suggested to the plaintiff that “his F1 visa could be revoked, and he could be deported, as a result of the Honor Committee investigation.” The plaintiff informed her that he was not in the United States on an F1 visa.

Plaintiff alleges Honor Committee misconduct

After corresponding with the head of the Honor Committee throughout August, the plaintiff was formally notified of the Honor Code charge against him.

Though the School of Management’s Honor Code requires the University to reveal to an accused student the identities of the Honor Committee members, the plaintiff alleged that he did not know of his committee’s composition until his Nov. 8 hearing.

On Oct. 14, the plaintiff received 16 documents that the committee planned to use as evidence in its evaluation — documents the plaintiff had requested throughout the summer. Those documents revealed to the plaintiff that a new charge had been introduced — AI use on a separate exam in a different class.

On Oct. 30, the plaintiff contacted Scott Aaronson, a Texas-based AI expert, to ask about the reliability of tools like GPTZero. According to Aaronson, the plaintiff explicitly stated in his email that he did not use AI on the exam when describing his situation.

“It is mathematically impossible for any tool to detect AI use at 100 percent probability,” Aaronson told the News, describing the information he conveyed to the plaintiff. Aaronson said that GPTZero, in particular, could not be certain of AI use but could detect the probability of AI use “in the high 90s.” 

The plaintiff submitted his correspondence with Aaronson — one email each — to the Honor Committee at his Nov. 8 hearing. He also submitted GPTZero scans of academic papers from Yale scholars, including former University President Peter Salovey, to demonstrate that the detector tool erroneously flagged original text as probably AI-generated, the suit described.

At the hearing, the committee asked the plaintiff for the Apple Pages files used to produce the PDF files submitted for the two flagged exams, which he did after the hearing concluded. Two hours later, after the plaintiff left campus, Tsung asked him to meet with the committee imminently, and to bring his personal laptop with him. The plaintiff told Tsung he would not be available to meet that day.

Three hours later, the plaintiff received a letter from the committee chair informing him that the Honor Committee had found him liable for a charge of  “not being forthcoming to the Honor Committee” and imposed a penalty of a one-year suspension, the lawsuit claims.

Shyam Sunder, a retired School of Management professor who served on the Honor Committee until his retirement in 2021, affirmed that the committee does impose penalties for the charge of “not being forthcoming” but declined to comment on specific cases.

“My recollection is that for people who come and put everything before the committee, our committee gives them the benefit of being forthcoming,” Sunder said.

On Nov. 15, the plaintiff appealed his one-year suspension penalty to the Faculty Review Board, a body of three professors headed by Anjani Jain, deputy dean for academic programs, who can review the severity of Honor Committee-imposed consequences. On Nov. 19, Jain notified him that the board denied his appeal and requested that the Honor Committee “continue deliberating” on a charge of “violation of the examination rules” — a broader charge than the AI use charge of which the plaintiff was originally notified, the suit states. Jain allegedly also asked the plaintiff’s professor to withhold the plaintiff’s grade in his course.

Jain did not respond to questions about the alleged communication, and a University spokesperson declined to comment.

On Nov. 21, the plaintiff received a letter from the committee notifying him that he was found to have violated the rules of the “Sourcing and Managing Funds” final exam and that he would receive a grade of F in that class. When he tried to appeal that penalty to the Faculty Review Board, he was again denied.

Sunder noted that grade penalties and suspensions are the most frequent penalties imposed by the committee, but that the length of suspensions could vary from a week to a year.

The student is suing the University, its Board of Trustees and multiple administrators and faculty members for breach of contract, breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, discrimination based on national origin, retaliation for complaint of discrimination and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff repeatedly reiterated his belief that he was discriminated against by his professors, Honor Committee members and Faculty Review Board members based on his national origin and “non-native English speaker/writer status.”

The suit asks for the plaintiff to be awarded financial damages “in an amount to be determined at trial” and for his suspension and failing grade to be reversed and removed from his academic record.

Yale objects to anonymity request

In the Feb. 21 response filed by the Yale defendants, lawyers argued that the plaintiff’s name was easily findable based on details included in the complaint and that his identity was a necessary fact in the case because of the plaintiff’s prior “dishonest” actions.

In particular, Yale’s lawyers claimed that the plaintiff was publicly accused of misappropriating $18,000 when he was the president of a Texas youth leadership development nonprofit in 2016. The nonprofit posted on Facebook about the plaintiff’s removal from his office, and the plaintiff commented on the post using his personal account, calling the allegations “completely inaccurate” and “false.”

In 2020, the defendants claim, a company alleged that the plaintiff made “false representations” to induce them to enter into a business relationship with certain entities.

Yale’s lawyers further asserted that anonymity is not appropriate for academic misconduct cases, citing precedent from previous cases.

The case was filed with the U.S. District Court, and it was assigned to a judge in Bridgeport.

ARIELA LOPEZ

Ariela Lopez covers Cops and Courts for the City Desk and lays out the weekly print paper as a Production & Design editor. She previously covered City Hall. Ariela is a sophomore in Branford College, originally from New York City.

CHRIS TILLEN

Chris covers the Law School for the News. He is a sophomore in Morse College.