Judge Denis Hurley
Peters is black. A student in Molloy College’s graduate nursing program, she was denied graduation after failing “NUR 555″—a mandatory research project—due to suspected plagiarism. Peters’ NUR 555 project was “exactly the same” as one published in 2006. In her suit for racial discrimination and retaliation, district court granted defendants summary judgment on Peters’ claims under Title VI of the Civil Right Act and 42 USC §1981. Despite making a prima facie showing of discrimination violating Title VI, Peters failed to rebut Molloy’s nondiscriminatory explanation that she failed NUR 555 because she submitted a final research proposal paper not meeting explicit course criteria and including indicia of plagiarism, and failed to abide by its grade appeal and due process procedures and policies. Peters did not raise a fact issue in her retaliation claim. Viewing the evidence in her favor, the court found Peters did not produce sufficient evidence of engagement in a protected activity. Nothing in a letter purportedly sent Molloy’s president implied or mentioned racially discriminatory conduct by anyone at Molloy. Moreover, she did not argue that defendants’ legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons were a pretext for discrimination.
